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BOY SOLDIERS 
OF THE CONFEDERACY 




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FRONTISPIECE 



BOY SOLDIERS 
OF THE 

CONFEDERACY 



COLLATED BY 

SUSAN R. HULL 



ILLUSTRATED BY PORTRAITS 



* 



NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON 
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1905 






^(. 



f Library of joMeftsssi 
Two Ciapieu rtecMvou 

APR 19 1905 



COPYRIGHT, 1905 
BY SUSAN R. HULL 



TO 

LT.-COL. JOHN BAKER THOMPSON 

OF THE "MAGNIFICENT FIRST ARKANSAS," C. S. A. 

"Let laurels, drench'd in pure Parnassian dews, 
Reward his mem'ry, dear to ev'ry muse. 
Who, with a courage of unshaken root, 
In honour's field advancing his firm foot. 
Plants it upon the line that justice draws, 
And will prevail or perish in her cause. 
'Tis to the virtues of such men, man owes 
His portion in the good that Heav'n bestows. 
And when recording history displays 
Feats of renown, though wrought in ancient days; ' 
Tells of a few stout hearts, that fought and died. 
Where duty plac'd them, at their country's side; 
The man that is not mov'd with what he reads, 
That takes not fire at their heroic deeds. 
Unworthy of the blessings of the brave, 
Is base in kind, and born to be a slave." — Cjivptr. 



CONTENTS 



Pag« 

Introduction j , 

An Old "Gray Coat" of "Tan Color" 177 

Another "Youngest Soldier" ]///_ 181 

Battle, Augusta's J27 

"Baylor's Boys" ^/r 

Beall, Henry D .'.'.■■;.■;■.■.■;■■. 222 

Beasley, Peter R jq. 

Berkeley, Carter 71 

Boag, Edward, an English Boy. i, 

Bowly, William Hollins ][] 146 

Boy from Bee's Brigade ,0^ 

Boys of Cane Hill College .'.■.■..' 208 

Braddock, Charles L j.j 

Bradley, Randolph '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 202 

Brave Boy's Answer, A 07 

Brooke, Francis Taliaferro ..'. 126 

Brother Against Brother c^ 

Bush, T. G '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.['.['.:::'.['. 178 

Cabell. William H 28 

Can't Leave if the Battle is to Begin. . t7c 

Claiborne, T. D [['[ 224 

Company A, Second Maryland Infantry.' .......'.'. 146 

Confederate Heroes 228 

Dabney, Basil G iqi 

Davis 2.0 

Davis, Sam, Heroism of 48 

Davis, Samuel Bowyer ][[ 1% 

Dove, Leslie Chambliss ''.".!...!.!........! 22 

Edmondson, Howell Chastain 24 

English, George Brinton McClellan 6^ 

Eskridge, William Peyton 40 

Experience, Stage Coach, A 76 

Eye Witness from the Other Side, An 88 

Ezekiel, Sir Moses, Sculptor, Rome ' " 124 



CONTENTS— G?»//««^rf 

Pack 

Fairfax, Randolph Gary 224 

Fellows, John R., Letter from 236 

First Arkansas Boys 235 

Frazer, Philip F 186 

From "A Boy's Experiences in the Civil War, 1860-1865". 105 

Gay, Charles Wyndham 142 

Gay, Erskine 144 

Gettysburg 19 

Gill, George Murray, Jr 188 

Gill, John 193 

Gill, Somerville Pinkney 147 

Grandy, P. H 20r 

Grigg, Wesley 24 

Grim Humor 189 

Haigh, Charles T 26 

Hardy, Julian B 201 

Harman, Lewis 183 

Holliday, Benjamin Taylor 70 

Hollyday, Lamar 146 

Hull, William Janney 141 

Imboden, Francis Marion 200 

In Camden Street Hospital, Baltimore 169 

Jewett, M. W 173 

Jones, Henry Jenner 225 

Kinney, Edward Carrington 127 

Latimer, Joseph W 27 

Lee, Robert E., Jr 14 

Little Jimmy 38 

Lloyd, Charles Tilghman 147 

Lyle, Alexander 196 

Magnificent First Arkansas Regiment of Infantry (The) . 244 

Major, Edmond Pendleton 215 

Mason, John Thompson 160 

McCue, John 32 

McDonald, Matthew H 172 

McDowell. W. H 173 

McKim, Randolph Harrison 144 

McKim, Robert 138 

"Mere Boy, A" 15 

Minor, Berkeley 19? 



CONTENTS— Continued 

Pace 

Moore, Jimmy 22 

Murkland, W, U 30 

Murphy, James Buchanan 31 

New Market, Battle of, Lieutenant Carter Berkeley 115 

Niemeyer, Lieutenant 19 

Norris, Charles R 179 

Opie, John 192 

Palmer, W. Ben, Letter from 168 

Peak, W. D 172 

Pelham 184 

Pendleton, Edmund 16 

Pratt, G. Julian 199 

Randolph 32 

Ranson, Thomas D 151 

Roby, Henry Albert 154 

Seay, The Late Ex-Gov 182 

Second Maryland at Cold Harbor, The 217 

Shank, Sergeant, Exploit of 65 

Shepherd, Henry E 61 

Speed, Henry Goodridge 204 

Stanard, Jacqueline Beverly 21 

Steele, Billings 137 

Story, Dr. Talmage's 148 

Stuart, Alexander H. H., Jr 125 

Sudler, John Emory 157 

Taylor, Carrington 126 

That's Why His Captor Offered to Lend Him a Bathing 

Suit 181 

Thompson, John Baker, and His Boys 231 

Thompson, John Baker 235, 239 

Thomson, James W 184 

Three Boy Heroes at Perryville 177 

Tredway, Thomas Booker 190 

Trout, Erasmus Stribling 206 

Turner, Henry Lloyd 69 

Tyler, John Bailey 180 

Unknown 20 

Unknown 30 

Unknown 41 

Unknown 75 



CONTENTS— Continued 

Page 

Unknown 174 

Upshur, John N., M. D., Address by 80 

Valk, I. M. E 56 

Valk, William W 56 

Warwick, Barksdale 18 

Washington College, now Washington and Lee University 57 

Waters, Thomas Jackson 156 

Wheatley, William T 136 

Who "Sue Munday" Really Was 223 

Wise, Hon. John S., Address by, on New Market Day at 

Virginia Military Institute 95 

Young, Bennett H., The Man Who Bearded Morgan 42 

Youngest on Record, The 228 

APPENDIX 

Appendix I 

The Cause for Which They Fought 247 

Appendix II 

Jefferson Davis's Opinion of Lee 250 

Their President 248 

Appendix III 

Charles Francis Adams's Tribute to Lee 252 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Opposite Pace ^ 

Mrs. Hull Frontispiece , 

General Lee and Traveler J*^ 

John McCue ^ 

Bennett H. Young ; "V ' ' ' ;; ' • " ' ' '•; c8 

Front Campus of Washington and Lee University ^ 

Recumbent Figure of Lee °^ ' 

Carter Berkeley ^^ 

Steve Timberlake <^ ' 

Virginia Military Institute J"^ 

Sir Moses Ezekiel 

Alexander H. H. Stuart, Jr J^ 

Carrington Taylor 

Francis T. Brooke J^^ 

University of Virginia ^ 

William Janney Hull J^ 

Randolph Harrison McKim J^ 

Randolph Harrison McKim J4^ 

Thomas D. Ranson • • • • ^ 

General Lee as President of Washington College I54 

John Thompson Mason J9^ 

W. Ben Palmer *^ 

John Baker Thompson -^^^ 



BOY SOLDIERS OF THE 
CONFEDERACY 



INTRODUCTION 



In 1863 Gen. John E. Wool, then commanding in 
Baltimore, called and sent in his card with a request 
that I would see him immediately on important busi- 
ness. I found him walking up and down the floor 
in great agitation and apparently very angry, and 
Moore N. Falls, President of the Bay Line Steam- 
ship Company, trying in vain to pacify him. He 
said that the provost marshal — McPhail, I think — 
had ordered a draft of all boys of sixteen and over, 
and that he came to tell me that I might inform the 
Southern people, "for," he added, "what one of you 
knows, all know" ; that he had revoked this order 
and would not permit it to be put in execution. He 
added, "This order once given, every boy in Mary- 
land, all of whom are standing on tiptoe to cross 
the border, only held back by mothers and sisters, 
would be with Lee before night, and with an army 
of boys, Lee could whip the world. They are the 
best soldiers in the world, as they are incapable of 
fear because they do not know the meaning of 
danger." I declined the commission, as I naturally 
wished Lee to whip the world, and he posted his 
order himself. My attention being thus called to 
the boys, I noted all the facts that came under my 



14 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

observation, and kept all cuttings from newspapers, 
etc., bearing on the subject. I intended to admit 
to my roll of honor all boys under twenty, but I 
found so many were under sixteen — one of eleven, 
several of twelve, thirteen, etc. — that I will have to 
change the age of entrance to eighteen, save in ex- 
ceptional cases. Even then I have to make the 
notices very short. When I first thought of making 
this collection, I only expected to show their brav- 
ery and reckless daring, but to my surprise I found 
that they were for the most part as remarkable for 
fervent piety as for the other qualities we naturally 
associate with boys. I shall give incidents of the 
boys just as I received them, careful to set down 
naught in malice nor aught in love extenuate. 



ROBERT E. LEE, JR. 



I place first in my record the name of Robert E. 
Lee. Jr.. son of Gen. R. E. Lee, the stainless hero, 
the Christian gentleman of whom it has been said, 

"His life was gentle; and the elements 
So mixed in him that nature might stand up 
And say to all the world. This ivas a man!" 

President Davis says while he was on duty in 
South Carolina and Georgia, Lee's youngest son 
Robert, then a mere boy. left school and came down 
to Richmond, announcing his purpose to go into the 
army. His older brother, Custis. was a member of 
my staff, and after a conference we agreed that it 
was useless to send the boy back to school, that he 
probably would not wait in Richmond for the re- 



;i;\^ 




Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 15 

turn of his father ; so we selected a battery which 
had been organized in Richmond and sent Robert 
to join it. General Lee told me that at the Battle 
of Sharpsburg this battery suffered so much that 
it had to be withdrawn for repairs and some fresh 
horses, but as he had no troops even to offer a re- 
serve, as soon as a battery could be made useful it 
was ordered forward. He said that as it passed 
him a boy, much stained with powder, mounted as 
a driver of one of the guns, said, "Are you going 
to put us in again. General ?" After replying to him 
in the affirmative, he was struck by the voice of the 
boy, and asked him, "Whose son are you, my boy ?" 
and was answered, "I am Robbie, father ; don't you 
know me?" Whereupon his father said, "God bless 
you, my son, go on!" 

Robert E. Lee, Jr., was afterwards on the staff 
of Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee. This is said to be the only 
instance on record where the son of a commanding 
general entered the army as a private in the ranks. 

"a mere boy'' 

Dahlgren in his raid around Richmond was pi- 
loted by a negro, and when he reached the plank- 
road a few miles from the city he found it barri- 
caded. Suspecting treachery or infuriated by 
defeat, he hung his wretched guide and left him on 
the tree. Making a detour to join Kilpatrick, who 
had already been routed by Maryland boys, he passed 
through King and Queen County, where he was 
ambuscaded— his men laden with plunder, silver, 
etc., — captured, and he himself shot and instantly 
killed by "a mere boy." Papers found upon him 



16 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

showed from what a fate a bullet "shot at a ven- 
ture" saved the city — sack, murder, rapine, negro 
uprising, fire. Though he was not first in command, 
Dahlgren was the inspirer of the plot and with his 
death it failed. He had already lost a leg at Ha- 
gerstown in an engagement with the same troops 
and officer that routed Kilpatrick. 



EDMUND PENDLETON 



Edmund Pendleton, of Fairfield, Clarke County, 
Va., joined the Army at seventeen, and displayed 
such gallantry that he was elected third lieutenant 
of his company. In the Maryland and Pennsylvania 
campaign of 1863 he was often put in command of 
select detachments to cover the retreat and make 
sudden dashes upon the enemy. In these skirmishes 
he would often capture as many prisoners as there 
were men in his command. At the severe engage- 
ment of Jenks Shops he led the brigade sharp-shoot- 
ers. During the course of this battle his ammuni- 
tion gave out and he resorted to the novel expedient 
of ordering his men to use stones, which were plen- 
tiful in this field. Himself starting the example, 
his men quickly obeyed and they succeeded in the 
assault. When asked why he followed this plan he 
said no body of men could have stood under the 
fire to which they were exposed without being en- 
gaged in some way. I have always thought it would 
be a good idea to raise a cairn to his honor at this 
point of the battlefield. 

Note. — It has been suggested that with the pow- 
erful modern implements of war the romance of 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 17 

^ti>TTJun\^ of Guayama one ot General 

n^s strff office. s^^,"^^'^^^f;^ii:::,ri::^ 

Sed he had endeavored to shield his father as 
^e thought if anything happened he was better able 
to endnfe it, and'his father's life was of more con- 

^T-Te^a^rMervyn B.c.ey o, Marylar.^ ^^^^^ 
iust graduated at West Point when the Spanish War 
broke out. He was put in command of a company, 
and when it landed on the shores of Cuba was told 
to w"it until the other boats came with men and 
arms As they stood on the shore unarmed the 
Spaniards commenced firing from a house above 
them and as Lieutenant Buckey's men dropped 
around him he realized that unless something was 
done they would become demoralized, bo he or- 
dered them to charge with stones, and unarmed they 
rushed upon the house and took it. , , , 

General Miles, from the boats saw the whole 
affair and as soon as he joined them promoted 
Lieutenant Buckey to the rank of captain, the only 
promotion made on the field during the Cuban war. 
He is only thirty years of age now, and is in com- 
mand of the harbor of New York. 



18 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

BARKSDALE WARWICK 

Of Barksdale Warwick, of Richmond, aged six- 
teen, Gen. Henry A. Wise says : "As we drove the 
enemy the movement forward became slower and 
slower. I was pressing on the men with the words, 
'Drive into them, boys ; drive into them !' when 
Barksdale smiled and exclaimed, 'Let me cry charge, 
General Wise; let me cry charge!' 'Charge, my 
brave boy !' I replied, and he shouted 'Charge !' and 
bounded across the road and reached Lieutenant 
McDowell, and was shouting, 'Charge, charge !' with 
a bright smile on his face, when he was struck on 
the forehead and instantly killed. He did not seem 
to fall, but sat down on a log, and his head fell back 
against a tree, with its full expression of the 'gau- 
dium certaminis' on his face. After the surrender at 
Appomattox two officers of the Federal army, one a 
surgeon, told me he had been honorably buried and 
his grave marked. The surgeon said he had never 
seen so beautiful a corpse; that the color and smile 
were still on his face and he was sitting as he was 
left as if in repose, and with hardly a stain of blood 
or earth upon his person. He had been with me 
from the beginning of the war and had never failed 
in duty to his country or obedience to me. He was 
gentle and amiable, indomitable in courage and 
pluck, and his bravery was as natural and unaffected 
as his death was beautiful. After what has hap- 
pened we ought not to wish such spirits still alive 
to suffer humiliation of submission." 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 19 

LIEUTENANT NIEMEYER 

Lieutenant Niemeyer entered the Army at eigh- 
teen. On the fatal field of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, 
he was conspicuously brave. Three times his bri- 
gade halted and was aligned under a galling fire. 
After the last "halt and dress," when the regiment 
began to advance. Lieutenant Niemeyer turned to 
a comrade and brother lieutenant, with a bright smile 
on his face, and said, "John, what a beautiful line !'* 
A few minutes after he fell dead, pierced through 
the head by a bullet. His body was never recovered, 
but fills one of the many "unknown graves" that 
furrow the hillside at Gettysburg. 

I shall insert here an incident and poem, as I have 
thought the "young Confederate soldier" might 
have been Lieutenant Niemeyer or one of his "boys." 

GETTYSBURG 

"In going over the field of Gettysburg shortly 
after the battle we discovered the body of a young 
Confederate soldier, who in dying had fallen into 
a crevasse on the hill so deep that his remains could 
never be removed. As we looked at him a ray of 
sunshine fell on his face and he seemed smiling as 
if in triumph. The following lines were suggested 
by the incident : 

" 'Far down the chasm within the mountain side 
A wounded soldier fell, but ere he died 
Upon his shattered arm his head he lay, 
Turned his dim eyes toward the closing day 
Gilding his brow as with celestial ray. 
O'er his young face a smile of triumph played, 
"I'll keep this place my valor gained," it said ; 



20 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

"No Arctic blast, no heat of summer sun, 
No prayer of love, no shout of victory won, 
No taunt of scorn, no curses, loud nor deep. 
Can rend my tomb, nor wake me from my sleep. 
Forever lying here, my manes shall show 
Where Southern soldier met a Northern foe. 
My soul to God, my country 'tis for thee 
My life is given with purest ecstasy. 
Across the stream, to reach the other side 
My spirit flies, there, where our hero died. 
He stands with arms outstretched upon the shore. 
Saying, 'Come, soldier, come, and rest forevermore,' 
Nameless I die, and yet for me shall rise, 
Tho' marking not the place my body lies, 
A monument, whene'er a prayer is said 
Or tear of deathless memory shed 
Above the tomb where sleep the unknown dead." ' " 

^'UN KNOWN dead" 

I once asked a surgeon of Price's army, Dr. Paul 
J. Carrington, of Halifax County, Va., if he had 
ever seen a man he had killed. He said, "No man, 
only a boy." He always went into the fight, until 
the wounded began to be brought back, and, said 
he, often wondered whether the wounds he was try- 
ing to heal were those he had made. At the Battle 
of Pea Ridge a United States regiment wavered and 
began to run. A soldier stepped from the ranks, 
seized the colors, and waving them, tried to rally the 
men. His right arm was shattered and he took the 
flag in his left hand, still coming forward and urg- 
ing the men to come on. He was shot and fell dead 
on the field. After the battle was over. Dr. Car- 
rington, who had carefully noted the spot, went to 
see what manner of man it was had died so bravely. 
He found a boy, not over sixteen, the flag so tightly 
clasped in his hand that it would have taken force 
to disengage it. The facts were stated to the officer 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 21 

in charge of the burial party, and by his order the 
brave boy was laid to rest with the colors for which 
he had died wrapped around him. His name was 
not known, and he can only be remembered as one 
of the tenderly loved, "the unknown dead." It is 
less sad to think of him than of the loss of my un- 
recorded heroes. Though he fell, the cause for 
which he gave his life triumphed; while the banner 
for which our loved ones died is now but the em- 
blem of a "Lost Cause." 

When I began this record it was intended to bo 
of boys on both sides, but I found so many very 
young Confederates that I decided to write of them 
only, especially as I was informed that a work on 
these lines about young Northern soldiers had al- 
ready been published. I had some records of North- 
em boys which I returned to the senders thereof. 
But this young soldier had no friends known to 
me, and seems so lonely and far away that he shall 
be numbered with his "comrades in hospital," and 
rest with those who lie undiscovered in the hidden 
places where they fell ; "the unknown dead," guard- 
ed by the changeless stars of heaven, undisturbed 
by the requiem of the 

"Murmuring blast which 
Mourns and laments in its wanderings past." 



JAC?QUELINE BEVERLY STANARD 

Jacqueline Beverly Stanard, aged seventeen, was 
wounded fatally in the Battle of New Market, but 
lived a short time and sent messages to his mother. 



22 • Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

telling her, "I fell where I wished to fall, fighting 
for my country, and I did not fight in vain. I die 
with full confidence in my God. My loved ones 
must meet me in heaven." As he caught the shout 
of victory from our men his trembling soul breathed 
itself to rest in a fervent, 'Thank God !" 



JIMMY MOORE 



Colonel Pate, of the Fifth Virginia Cavalry, was 
killed in battle on the mountain road near Rich- 
mond. Little Jimmy Moore, his orderly, only six- 
teen years old, rode in under a storm of bullets and 
brought the body out. With the assistance of an- 
other man he took it into Dr. Shepherd's house, and 
had only time to pin a piece of paper with his name 
upon it to the breast when the enemy charged into 
the yard. 

His exploit reminds one of the following : "Aaron 
Burr, when not more than sixteen, carried messages 
between Arnold and Montgomery through the thick 
of the fight at Quebec, and when Montgomery fell 
little Burr caught his body and carried it out of the 
line of fire through a very rain of bullets." 



LESLIE CHAMBLISS DOVE 

Leslie Chambliss Dove was born in Richmond, 
Va., December 24, 1845. He attended the best 
schools and a military academy under Col. Jasper 
Phillips. He won many prizes and was always de- 
voted to study, particularly of the Revolutionary 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 23 

heroes, and committed many of their speeches to 
memory and laid them to heart. When South Caro- 
Hna seceded he organized with his young compan- 
ions a company which drilled daily, and when Gen- 
eral Lee came to Richmond they offered their ser- 
vices. General Lee complimented their proficiency 
and skill, and admired their spirit, but said they were 
too young to serve. He then went to the Virginia 
Military Institute to prepare himself. But the war 
broke out, and he could not be satisfied to remain 
after hostilities began. The thought seemed to 
haunt him continually and he said he would con- 
sider himself eternally disgraced if he did not strike 
a blow in defense of his country. He determined 
to join the Army. Friends and relations urged upon 
him that he was too young to endure the duties and 
hardships of service. He said, "It is my duty to go 
where they are fighting, and if I can strike but one 
blow for the South, I mean to strike that blow." 
When told that his father would not consent to his 
entering the Army, he said, "Did Pa say so ? Well, 
I have never disobeyed him before, but — I am go- 
ing." His father gave a reluctant consent and he 
joined the Army. He served as a volunteer with a 
howitzer company from Richmond, in which com- 
mand he had many friends. His health, never very 
robust, became seriously impaired, and he returned 
home after a campaign of several months. But on 
July 1st, 1863, he again set out to join the Army. 
His friend and cousin. General Chambliss, promis- 
ing him a place on his staff, he was assigned tem- 
porarily to the duties of a courier — the Army was 
now in retreat from Gettysburg — and he served 
two days in this capacity, but near Front Royal was 



24 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

struck by a shell and mortally wounded. He was 
taken to the hospital and his friend, Dr. William 
Gregory, told him he could not survive the night. 
He said, "I expected it. Tell my father that I was 
not afraid to die." Though the army now moved 
on, kind friends saw to his burial and marked his 
grave, and after the war his remains were removed 
to Hollywood, where under a monument, a small 
model of the one to the Confederate soldiers, he 
rests, a noble type of the young Confederate soldier, 
and leaves to us only the solace of an honored grave. 
His frightened horse, riderless, rushed into the Fed- 
eral line and was captured by an officer, who rode 
him into Richmond after the surrender. His father 
recognized it, and went to the officer and proved its 
history, and offered any price for it, but was refused. 



HOWELL CHASTAIN EDMONDSON 

Howell Chastain Edmondson, of Halifax County, 
Va., entered the army at sixteen. He was remark- 
able for cool, calm bravery. In one of the battle? 
around Richmond, while the enemy was making a 
final assault, a comrade turned to Howell and asked 
him how he felt. Although under fire at the time, 
he calmly replied, "I fear no evil whatever, for I 
have long since made my peace with God." 



WESLEY GRIGG 



Wesley Grigg, of Petersburg, Va., entered the 
army at fifteen, under Captain Taylor Martin. He 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 25 

was made sergeant of one of the guns, which posi- 
tion he held with distinguished courage and effici- 
ency in the ensuing campaign, till he surrendered 
with Lee at Appomattox. As an example of cour- 
age and heroism we give the following instance: 
"While the battery was stationed at Blandford Cem- 
etery we were daily engaged in artillery duels with 
the enemy, in which candor compels me to state that 
Hotchkiss guns proved more effective than the iron 
Napoleons with which we were supplied. About 
half way between the lines was a tree which was a 
source of annoyance to Sergeant Grigg. As it was in 
line of his gun, the captain offered inducements to 
any of the company who would cut down the tree, 
with no effect, as it seemed certain death to attempt 
It. At length Sergeant Grigg stepped up and offered 
to cut It down, if he was ordered to do so. Taking 
an axe he soon reached the tree, and keeping time 
with his sturdy strokes to the solemn music of the 
whistlmg Minie, and an occasional shot or shell, he 
calmly cut till the tree was down, thinking all 'the 
time, as he afterwards said to me, 'that the onlv 
thing a soldier should do was to obey.' " 

This illustration, selected from others, is sufficient 
to show the character of the youthful soldier. Not 
rash, but resolute in the discharge of duty. Not 
ambitious to reap honors for gallantry by voluntary 
exposure to danger, but ready to sacrifice his life at 
the command of a superior in whose judgment he 
had confidence, and at whose command it was hi« 
duty and pleasure to bow. Not zealous to reap ap- 
plause from an heroic action, which appalled the 
hearts of older men, but ready to risk all when older 
men declined the sacrifice; and only then, when the 



26 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

captain would take the responsibility of what his 
friends might esteem rashness, and order him to do 
what he regarded a necessary thing for the safety 
and efficiency of his men. But as we learn from 
this same comrade (quoted above), when kindness 
and self-sacrifice were called for, Sergeant Grigg 
was ready always to render it, and when there was 
no hope of a reward. Thus he relates how one 
night, when he himself had fallen asleep on guard, 
from sheer exhaustion, under the fatigue of the 
previous day, on rousing up at roll-call, he was 
amazed and gratified to find Sergeant Grigg quietly 
walking his post for him. 



CHARLES T. HAIGH 



Charles T. Haigh was from Fayetteville, N. C. 
In his fifteenth year he saw his first active service 
with General Jackson. In 1863 he begged his 
father's permission to resign his cadetship, for 
though exempt by law, he thought it the duty of 
every one who could bear arms to go to the front. 
When the news of the Battle of Gettysburg reached 
him he said, "Boys, we must all join the Army; our 
country needs us ; for my part, I can stay no longer 
here." He resigned and volunteered as a private in 
a North Carolina regiment. His first battle was in 
the Wilderness, where he acted with the coolness 
of a veteran. At Spottsylvania Court House his bri- 
gade was ordered to charge with others, a battery 
of the enemy, and it was there in that terrible horse- 
shoe angle that Lieutenant Haigh lost his life for 
"Cause and Country." "Just as we emerged from 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 27 

the woods and dashed upon the guns he raised his 
arm, shouting, 'Charge, boys, charge ! the battery is 
ours!" All the while the grape, canister, shrapnel, 
shell and round-shot were crashing through the trees 
and cutting down our comrades." And thus he died 
with the cry of victory on his lips, on the very ram- 
parts of his country. 



JOSEPH W. LATIMER 



"Joseph W. Latimer entered the army at seven- 
teen. He was very small, well formed, and of ex- 
tremely youthful appearance. While on drill we 
paid him the utmost respect, and off drill we fondled 
and caressed him as if he were a child. He was the 
officers' pet, and we always called him 'our little Lat- 
imer.' One night after a tremendous battle, as we 
lay together on the ground, my little comrade drew 
closer to me and said, 'Well, Captain, I feel so 
thankful I have passed through this fight as well as 
I have.' Thinking he alluded to not having re- 
ceived a wound, I said I was more than glad he had 
escaped unhurt. He said : 'Oh ! no. I do not mean 
that; I rather wish I had received a small wound 
so I might see how I bear it. What I meant was 
this — I was so glad I was able to stay at my post 
and do my duty in the fight. I have always felt a 
little afraid that I might lose my self-control and 
disgrace myself. I have tried it now, and have no 
anxiety for the future. He was afterwards pro- 
moted (a major at nineteen) and assigned to duty 



28 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

with Andrews's battalion, in command of which he 
received his fatal wound at Gettysburg. While gal- 
lantly cheering his men a fragment of shell struck 
his arm, shattering it completely. As he was car- 
ried ofif the field he passed his battery, and holding 
up the stump of his mangled arm, in a clear and 
steady voice exhorted them to fight harder than ever 
and avenge his loss. When he was taken from under 
his horse, which was killed when he lost his arm, 
he continued to give orders and seemed to think only 
of his command." 



WILLIAM H. CABELL 



William H. Cabell was only fifteen when the war 
broke out, and earnestly desired to join the volun- 
teers, of which his brother, James Caskie Cabell, was 
lieutenant, but his father told him that having one 
son in the army, only seventeen, he was unwilling 
that another of tenderer years should become a 
soldier ; so he reluctantly continued his studies at the 
Virginia Military Institute, where he graduated with 
the highest distinction. The theme and burden of 
his letters to his family was his longing to join the 
army of the South, saying repeatedly that he had 
rather die than that the contest should be over and 
independence achieved or lost without his contrib- 
uting his mite to the struggle. In May, General 
Breckinridge called for the aid of the cadets to re- 
pel the Federal army under General Sigel, and 
though Cadet Cabell was very ill, he resolved to do 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 29 

his duty and undertook the march. It is said that 
he nearly fainted with debihty, fatigued and over- 
powered by the labors of the way. At night, be- 
fore the Battle of New Market, he spoke confiden- 
tially to a friend and fellow-student of the dangers 
of the impending conflict, saying that he feared 
nothing for himself, and that he was willing to 
incur the hazard, but of his brother. Cadet R. G. 
Cabell, who was not more than sixteen, he spoke 
in the tenderest terms. He feared that he would be 
either wounded or killed and deplored either event, 
as he knew it would cause the death of his broken- 
hearted mother. He retired a short distance from 
his comrades, and offered a prayer for his brother 
and himself, asking for protection in the expected 
battle, and then weary and worn, retired to his 
soldier's bed. On the 15th of May the Battle of 
New Market occurred, one of the most exciting of 
the war. The charges, rapid movement, impetuous 
action and the utter rout of the Northern forces, 
seldom occurred on one field. The Cadets rushed 
with all the enthusiasm and valor of youth to the 
charge, and every obstacle yielded to their unflinch- 
ing and unfaltering courage. The Cadets were 
gloriously victorious. Cadet R. G. Cabell passed 
bravely and uninjured, and reached the enemy's 
cannon, while his noble, accomplished, beloved, and 
unfortunate brother was struck and torn by a frag- 
ment of a shell and lay mortally wounded in the 
path of the charge. It seems strange as well as 
terrible to think of one mother having three sons 
in an army under twenty-one years of age! 



30 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

UNKNOWN DEAD 

One boy whose name I have lost was wounded 
in one of the first battles of the war, in West Vir- 
ginia. Wheal his regiment was driven back, he 
stubbornly held his post. When the field was 
searched for the wounded he was still living, and 
said in broken whispers to a comrade who found 
him, "Tell mother, — died at post — remember, Casa- 
blanca." Captain R., who knew him, told me that 
he had insisted on enlisting, though he had two 
brothers in the army and was very young. Find- 
ing remonstrance in vain, his mother said, "My son, 
you can go, but you must first be prepared." He 
said, "I am prepared, I have my father's gun." She 
replied, "The Government will give you arms. I 
mean mental preparation. You are not going on a 
hunt, to return when you are tired; but if you go, it 
must be to stay and do your part. If you will read 
this life and learn these verses, and feel that you can 
do your duty like this boy, you may go." It was 
Casablanca. He went and manfully held his place. 
His officer is dead and I do not know if his mother 
ever received the message. His comrades said that 
he often told the story and repeated the verses by 
the camp fire. 



W. U. MURKLAND 



The students of Hampden Sidney College went 
in the army en masse, led by their professors. They 
were captured and paroled by General McClellan, 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 31 

who told them to return to college and attend to 
their studies. They accepted the parole "till ex- 
changed." The Rev. Dr. W. U. Murkland, of the 
First Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, who was at 
the time not sixteen, was one of the number. It was 
a curious coincidence that when the McClellan fam- 
ily came to Baltimore to live they took a pew in Dr. 
Murkland's church and Dr. Murkland was one of 
the clergymen who officiated at General McClellan's 
funeral, sitting in the carriage with an officer who 
had been on General McClellan's staff when the 
students were captured. 



JAMES BUCHANAN MURPHY 

At the time of General Sheridan's march through 
the Valley of Virginia there was a call for volun- 
teers to repel the invasion, and among others, James 
Buchanan Murphy, of Woodstock, not seventeen 
years of age, joined the army. After having had 
five horses shot under him, there was a desperate en- 
counter, where a mere handful of Southern soldiers 
was opposed to the whole of Sheridan's army. A 
mistaken order to charge was given, and the hope- 
lessness of it was so terrible that only tivo soldiers 
obeyed the fatal command, young Murphy and an- 
other, whose name is not known. Young Murphy 
was shot through the heart and his horse killed, his 
companion escaping as by a miracle. It reminds one 
of the Charge of the Light Brigade, only here there 
were but two instead of six hundred. One peculiar- 



32 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

ity I have noticed in the accounts of many of these 
boys — they died with a smile on their Hps, that irra- 
diated their faces when cold in death; also, that 
many of them, whom we might have thought were 
carried away by the recklessness and enthusiasm of 
youthful excitement, were boys of sincere convic- 
tion of the justice of their cause, true patriotism and 
consistent piety. 



RANDOLPH 



Colonel Smith, of the Virginia Military Institute, 
wrote me a letter, which I have mislaid, stating 
that a boy named Randolph, aged fourteen, enlisted 
in the cavalry, and reported to General Stonewall 
Jackson, as courier. During a battle he was sent 
with orders which were executed successfully; he 
returned, himself and his horse covered with blood. 
After keeping him through that campaign. General 
Jackson sent him to the Virginia Military Insti- 
tute, and he was in the Battle of New Market. At 
the close of the war he became a clergyman. He is 
a cousin of General R. E. Lee, and a nephew of 
Bishop Randolph, of Virginia. 



JOHN M CUE 



John McCue, of Staunton, Va., was at the Vir- 
ginia Military Institute, and before he was sixteen 




JOHN M CUE. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 32. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 33 

ran away and joined the cavalry in the Valley. He 
was captured on the Maryland side, while scouting 
with a number of his comrades, by a party of 
mounted police in United States uniform. They 
were hunting for horse thieves in the debatable land 
between the two armies, who, with deserters and 
run-away negroes, ravaged that unprotected coun- 
try. In the melee one of his captors was killed, and 
young McCue was brought to Baltimore, to be tried 
for murder by court martial. His companions es- 
caped. I received a note from his father, who was 
prisoner of war at Fort Delaware, asking me to do 
something for his son. I went to Captain Wigel, 
provost at the time, and asked him where the boy 
was. He said he was in jail, where he had been 
for some time, and that his case was hopeless, he 
would "certainly be hung," his trial beginning the 
next day, I asked him if I might have counsel for 
him. He said yes, but advised me not to "employ 
any S^ccsh lawyer," as it would prejudice the court 
martial against McCue. He gave me the name of a 
great Republican criminal lawyer, whom he advised 
me to employ; also one less distinguished, who 
would act as assistant for the other. On my way 
to engage the former, I met Mr. Frederick Brune, 
who offered to defend the boy (without payment, 
and never considering the risk to himself), though 
he considered Captain Wigel's advice good. I de- 
clined his kind offer. The Republican lawyer re- 
fused to take the case without a retainer of two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars (see note), an assistant and 
a note for the rest of one thousand dollars, given 
by his father, to be paid after the war. This law- 
yer, as far as I can remember, did not appear at all 



34 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

in the case, until the last day, and the assistant was 
worse than useless. The judge advocate was ap- 
parently deaf, and though he appeared willing to 
act fairly, could understand neither the boy nor 
myself. I was allowed to stay with him, to send 
for witnesses, in short to do anything that would 
give a legal color to an illegal trial. 

The facts, as stated by McCue, were that being 
short of supplies, and believing the Marylanders to 
be favorable to them, they had crossed the Potomac, 
to get something to eat, not caring whether they 
had a little brush with the enemy or not. When 
the police attacked them they resisted, as they 
thought they were United States soldiers, and that, 
though he would have shot if he could, as an actual 
fact his opponent had him down, when his pistol 
went off in the struggle. The man that was killed 
was twice the size and strength of the boy. I inter- 
posed here with a question as to whether the course 
of the ball would not confirm this, stating that I be- 
lieved him, for McCue came of a truthful, upright, 
and honorable family, that claimed that no member 
of it had ever been before a court for crime, or told 
a falsehood. This, however, could not be deter- 
mined, as the body had been buried without special 
examination. I was asked if I had any witnesses, 
and I had none, as the boy positively refused to name 
his comrades, even if they could have been reached. 
I summoned, however, his father, then a prisoner 
of war at Fort Delaware, and his mother, then in 
Staunton, Va. They knew nothing of the affair, 
but I thought it was the last opportunity for them — 
to bid adieu to their boy. The mother could not 
come. The father came with a guard. Imagina- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 35 

tion can scarcely conceive his feelings when he saw 
his son in that dreadful position, he powerless to 
save him. When asked if he knew the prisoner, he 
said, "He is my son, sir." Even those stern men 
were affected. McCiie was perfectly calm when 
brought into court in his sad, ragged cadet uniform. 
His only anxiety was lest his appearance should be- 
tray the straits of his people. He begged that he 
might be suitably dressed, but we explained to him 
that it was advisable for him to wear the gray. Be- 
fore the court he answered freely any questions 
about himself; any that would implicate his com- 
panions, he declined to answer. Asked where he 
crossed, he refused to say; the names of his com- 
panions, he declined to tell. "Did you receive the 
aid you expected?" "No." 

The last day of the trial came. The $i,ooo law- 
yer came with a speech, purporting to be the plea of 
the prisoner, begging for mercy on the ground that 
he was a conscript and forced into the army. The 
boy utterly repudiated it. He jumped to his feet 
and said : "I was not conscripted. I ran away from 
school to join the army. I would rather they took 
me out and shot me now, than have it go back to 
my people that I said I was a conscript." Remem- 
ber in what circumstances he was placed, a mere 
boy without a friend within reach but me, whom 
he had not seen since he was a child, with the dread 
panoply of a court martial before him, expecting 
a speedy, ignominious death; yet calm, undaunted, 
he displayed a fortitude unequalled. It is compara- 
tively easy in the crash of battle to forget death, but 
coolly to look it in the face in a situation like this 
required far more courage. He was condemned to 



36 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

imprisonment at hard labor for life, in the Fitch- 
burg Penitentiary, but was pardoned by General 
Grant, at the intercession of his mother, and upon 
the information given by one of the members of the 
court martial. Colonel Bowman, I believe, that the 
verdict was a compromise offered by him to save 
the boy's life. It is noble acts like this, and his con- 
duct at Appomattox, that endear the memory of 
General Grant to the Southern heart, and I hope 
some day there will be raised at Arlington a monu- 
ment to the two heroes, Lee and Grant, similar to 
that erected to Wolfe and Montcalm on the heights 
of Abraham, showing to all time a united people 
combining to honor two heroes, who, each faithful 
to his own conviction of duty, fought bravely till the 
war was ended and laid down his arms, the one con- 
quered the other conqueror, alike without a stain 
upon their honor, one bitter thought in the breast of 
the conquered, or one of malicious triumph in that 
of the conqueror. 

Note. — This account was written immediately 
after McCue's release. His picture, which I have 
just received, was taken some time after he had left 
prison, and shows what a mere child he was when 
convicted, as does the pen picture in a letter, also 
just received, from Judge Dorsey, of Oakland Mills, 
Howard County, Md., of how he appeared when he 
enlisted. "I was with Colonel Mosby when he 
reached the command, a slight, beardless boy in his 
V. M. I. uniform, mounted on the smallest pony T 
ever saw in my life, with no other arms than a pistol 
of the smallest caliber. He pulled this pistol out 
and said what he would do with the Yankees when 
he met them. My brother said, 'McCue, if you were 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 37 

to shoot me with that pistol I would think a mos- 
quito bit me,' However, in the first engagement 
Johnnie led the way when the charge was ordered, 
and captured a big Yankee, ordering him to sur- 
render with his little pistol in his face. Johnnie got 
the man, horse and equipment, and came out a hero, 
and the most enthusiastic boy you ever saw. [I 
think it was probably this equipment that tempted 
him to forage in Maryland. — S. R. H.] He was 
very slight in figure, but had a lion heart." He had 
no idea that he might be hung, and asked me, when 
he thought things looked black for him, "Please ask 
them, when they shoot, not to hit my face. I've 
grown so much since mother saw me, she would 
not know me unless she saw that." The lawyer did 
not receive the balance of the $i,ooo, as the father 
lost his all in the war — and it was just, for one word 
from him would have shown the illegality of the 
trial. John should have been treated as a prisoner 
of war. He was simply a soldier foraging in the 
enemy's country. Perhaps it was natural that the 
lawyer, who spent most of his time in Washington, 
should think affairs of the nation of more import- 
ance than the life of a poor little rebel boy. 



A BRAVE BOY S ANSWER 

Among the prisoners brought from West Vir- 
ginia to Baltimore was Captain Henry Robinson, 
of Staunton, who told me of the following inci- 
dent : There were many boys captured with him. 
They were hungry, tired, some barefooted, all 
ragged ; some bareheaded or with the merest apolo- 



3$ Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

gies for hats. As they passed down Madison Street, 

near Charles, on the way to jail, Miss M G , 

who was looking- at them, exclaimed sneeringly, "Is 
this your Southern chilvary?" One young fellow 
threw off his brimless hat, and turning to her said, 
"Yes, madam, yours to command for service; save 
these bonds!" — pointing to the guards. Miss G. 
then exclaimed, "They've actually read the Bible!" 
Both guards and prisoners gave a rousing cheer and 
Miss G. retired. Captain Robinson told me he could 
not understand how boys that had never been in bat- 
tle stood so well or bore the fatigues of march and 
deprivation with such patience, even gaiety. 



LITTLE JIMMY 



Mrs. Thorburn, wife of Commodore Thorburn, 
while visiting the hospital at Greensboro, N. C, saw 
a boy, a mere child, about thirteen. She asked him 
his name and how he came there; but he was so 
much afraid he would not be allowed to go back 
into the army that he would only say his name was 
"Jimmy," and that he had broken his arm in the 
fall of the platform as he got off the cars at Greens- 
boro. Mrs. Thorburn became much interested in 
him, and told her daughter, a child of eleven, to go 
in and talk to Jimmy, and perhaps she could per- 
suade him to tell something of his family. After 
several visits from her. he began to talk of himself ; 
said he had neither father nor mother, only a little 
sister, whom he loved dearly; that he lived in Mis- 
sissippi, near Vicksburg, and knowing an officer in 
command some distance from home, he had run off 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 39 

to enlist, to fight for his country. He had expected 
to be received with joy, but the officer told him he 
was too young and must return, giving him money 
and a pass. When he reached Greensboro he got 
off to get some food, and the crowd was so great 
the platform gave way and he was hurt. He bore 
his wounds with fortitude, looking forward to the 
time when he could again make the attempt to join 
the army. It was found necessary to amputate his 
arm, and he said he could stand it if the little girl 
who "reminds me of my sister" would stay with 
him. This she did, and as chloroform was admin- 
istered to the patient, doubtless suffered more than 
he — an act of heroism on her part as great as any 
shown during the war. In fact, her many noble 
deeds would have been worthy of a far older per- 
son. The arm seemed to be doing well. One day, 
when Mrs. Thorburn went to see Jimmy, he said, *T 
see a bright light around me." "No, Jimmy," she 
said, "it is rather a dark day." "But," he said, "I 
am in a bright shining light. Let me put my arms 
around you, and — kiss me once, Mrs. Thorburn, I 
feel so lonely." She said, "Certainly, my darling 
child, kiss me as often as you like." She put her 
arms around him and he rested his head on her 
shoulder. She said, "Let's say that little prayer you 
love so much." He closed his eyes as he said the 
prayer, and folded his hands upon his breast and 
she laid him on his pillow, thinking he was asleep. 
He was — sleeping the sleep that knows no waking, 
till his eyes are opened in brighter climes than this 
poor world of ours. Like St. Stephen, he saw the 
heavens opened and a shining pathway from earth 



40 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

to heaven upon which his innocent soul was wafted 
to eternal glory. 

Bertie Thorburn, the little girl here mentioned, 
was most beautiful, with mind and heart far in ad- 
vance of her years. It is an interesting coincidence 
that at the time she was acting her part in the great 
tragedy, in North Carolina, her future husband, a 
cadet of twelve, was taking notes in Richmond, 
which have just been published, and which I con- 
sider the most interesting personal narrative I have 
seen since the war. 



WILLIAM PEYTON ESKRIDGE 

This was no isolated case. All the boys in the 
South, however young, interested themselves in the 
war. William Peyton Eskridge, son of William 
and Mary Randolph Eskridge, of Staunton, Va., 
being entirely too young to be of service in the field, 
did all he could to help the ill and wounded, pris- 
oners and Confederates. He obtained books for 
them from relatives and friends after exhausting 
those of his family, and I have many volumes scrib- 
bled over with names and remarks of soldiers who 
read them then. It was very difficult to procure nec- 
essary food, — and luxuries, almost impossible, — and 
the little fellow foraged in every direction and car- 
ried his spoils to the hospital, and many fever- 
parched lips welcomed the cooling fruit he triumph- 
antly displayed. 

DAVIS 

If the only son of President Davis had reached 
the age of boyhood I should have placed his name 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 41 

first in my records. He was a very delicate child, 
and died in his beautiful home at Richmond, now 
appropriately the Museum for Relics of the Confed- 
eracy. His playmates erected a beautiful monument 
to him in Hollywood, where he rests with the young 
soldiers of the South, some of them his companions 
m mimic warfare, who, afterwards entering the 
army, lost their young lives and joined him on the 
other side. 



UNKNOWN DEAD 

A surgeon in Baltimore told me that three boys 
captured while foraging were brought to the hos- 
pital, all (as supposed) slightly wounded. They 
were so young, ragged, dirty, grimed with blood 
and mud that he thought they were only some young 
roughs who had been caught in mischief. He ex- 
amined them and found all but one had trivial 
scratches, but the third was a hopeless case, bleeding 
to death internally. He ordered him to remain, and 
said the others could be carried on. The boy, after 
looking at him for a moment, said, "Am I as bad 
as that?" The surgeon said, "Yes. my boy, I am 
afraid you are." He was silent a moment, and then 
said, "Duke et decorum est pro patria mori." Said 
the surgeon, "My boy, where did you learn that?" 
He replied, "We have just left school, sir." He 
then turned to one of his companions and began, 
"Tell mother—" The surgeon was called off to a 
desperate case and did not return until his compan- 
ions had gone and he was resting, covered with a 
sheet, his hands folded, a smile on his face as if in 
childhood's sleep. I heard of a similar case from a 



42 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

g-entleman who visited the field hospitals at Gettys- 
burg. He said : ''I was astonished at the expression 
on many of the faces of the Rebel dead. They so 
often seemed smiling triumphantly, though dying 
defeated. One wounded boy struck me particularly. 
I was going over the field to help take off the 
wounded and found a boy who was shot in the 
breast. He seemed a mere child and I said, 'What 
are you doing here?' He said, 'Where else, sir?' I 
said, 'At home with your mother.' He laid his hand 
over the bleeding wound, and looking me calmly in 
the eye, said, 'For home and mother.' We took him 
to the tent and he made no moan, though the wound, 
which was slight, must have been very painful. I 
think he will recover. It made me really sick," he 
added. 

BENNETT H, YOUNG, THE MAN WHO BEARDED 
MORGAN 

Bennett H. Young, the Kentucky lawyer who up- 
set all precedent by treating J. Pierpont Morgan as 
an ordinary witness when he testified in the Louis- 
ville and Nashville deal in the Federal building, 
proved a surprise to the wealth of New York legal 
talent, who have made it a rule to deal with the great 
financier with kid gloves. Mr. Morgan did not 
know what to make of Mr. Young. Neither did the 
other lawyers. The tall, suave, white-haired Ken- 
tuckian, with imperturbable politeness but with an 
insistence that knew no limit, kept Mr. Morgan on 
the rack for a full hour and drew from him informa- 
tion which he probably never dreamed of giving. 
But to the few who knew the Kentuckian, his re- 
fusal to be overawed by Mr. Morgan, or anybody 




BENNETT H. YOUNG. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 42 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 43 

else, was not surprising. Mr. Young, in addition to 
being a railroad lawyer, is a genuine Kentucky 
colonel — a fighter from the ground up, when fight- 
ing is necessary, but in the ordinary affairs of life 
a quiet, soft-voiced courteous man of the world. 
Colonel Young's fighting record was established in 
the Civil War. Had Mr. Morgan known of one 
feat of reckless daring performed by him back in 
1864 he would have better understood the caliber of 
the man pitted against him. 

Colonel Young, aged twenty-one, was the man 
who, on October 19, 1864, led a band of Confed- 
erates into the town of St. Albans, Vt., and gave 
the residents of that place a practical example of 
what the residents of scores of Southern towns had 
suffered. The St. Albans raid, as it is called, fills 
a unique place in the history of the Civil War. No- 
body ever dreamed of a band of armed Southerners 
invading a town in Vermont. That section of the 
country, so far removed from the actual scene of 
strife, was supposed to be absolutely safe. Colonel 
Young at that time was a lieutenant in the Confed- 
erate Army. He had served with that other Mor- 
gan, so well known in the South, the cavalry raider, 
and had learned the trick of making sudden on- 
slaughts in unexpected places. To escape capture 
and imprisonment by the United States forces he 
had previously fled to Canada. In Toronto he met 
many exiled Southerners. Among these the plan 
to attack St. Albans was worked out, the prime pur- 
pose being to spread dismay, if possible, among the 
Union forces, for the safety of New England towns. 
It was proposed to secretly organize raids, cross the 
border from time to time, and serve the frontier 



44 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

towns as Sherman was treating the people of Geor- 
gia; but this was overruled as being impracticable. 
A few of the hot-heads, however, who were not con- 
vinced, secretly met and matured a little plan on 
their own hook, unknown to the majority, of whicii 
the following was the finale. They planned to raid 
the banks of the town and carry off what money 
could be found for the use of the Confederate cause. 
Lieutenant Young was chosen leader of the enter- 
prise. 

Like a clap of thunder in a clear sky, one morn- 
ing the news flashed over the wires that "a Rebel 
horde" had captured St. Albans, Vt. Subsequent 
news revealed the fact that the "Rebel horde" con- 
sisted of twenty-six men under the command of 
Lieutenant Young, of Kentucky. By preconcerted 
action they arrived in St. Albans as ordinary pas- 
sengers, and the weather being exceedingly cold, it 
was not strange that each should be enveloped in a 
long ulster. They met in the St. Albans Hotel, ma- 
tured their plans, and at a given signal the next 
morning each one threw off his overcoat and stood 
revealed to the citizens a full-fledged Confederate 
soldier, armed cap a pie — that is, every man had a 
latest improved Colt's revolver in each hand. The 
leader demanded the instant and unconditional sur- 
render of the city. The mayor and city officials, 
after a hurried consultation, acceded to the demand, 
and the entire male population was corralled in the 
public square. 

A chain guard was placed round the prisoners, 
while four of the attacking party went through the 
banks and confiscated about $200,000 in greenbacks 
and Government bonds. Sergeant had a nar- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 45 

row escape. A citizen, more combative than the 
others, drew a bead upon him with a rifle, but was 
detected in time to seal his own doom. That was 
the only casualty that occurred. The Southerners 
lost no time in making their way across the border, 
and the Federal Government immediately demanded 
their extradition as marauders. They were ar- 
raigned before the police judge in Toronto, and they 
pleaded that they were belligerents, not robbers, be- 
ing regularly enlisted as commissioned Confederate 
soldiers. The very best counsel was secured and a 
motion to grant a continuance for twenty days, in 
order that they might procure evidence, was granted. 
A messenger volunteered to go to Richmond, Va., 
for papers, but found such difficulty in getting 
through that the twenty days passed and he had not 
returned. The trial began; it could be no longer 
delayed. It was nearly over and every one thought 
the prisoners were lost ; but just at the close the mes- 
senger arrived and in the most dramatic manner 
opened a travel-stained bag and unrolled several let- 
ters obtained in Richmond, showing that the pris- 
oners were belligerents, within the meaning of the 
law; and they were discharged accordingly. 

Secretary Seward brought vigorous measures to 
bear upon the Dominion Government, the news- 
papers of Canada set up a howl against the men 
whose conduct was calculated to plunge the country 
into a broil with the United States, and the upshot 
was that Parliament was convened in session extra- 
ordinary within a week ; and an "alien and sedition" 
law, empowering the Governor-General to suspend 
the writ of habeas corpus in the case of aliens, and 



46 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

order them out of the Dominion within forty-eight 
hours, was railroaded through Parliament. 

Inside forty-eight hours after the passage of the 
Bill, every Confederate prisoner was making tracks 
from Canada. Some took their chances to pass 
through the Federal lines; others drifted into the 
North and remained there, incognito, until the close 
of the war; while others crossed the water with 
a view to taking passage on a blockade runner 
and entering a Southern port. While waiting for 
a vessel to be fitted out at Glasgow, Lee surren- 
dered, and each took his own course in getting home. 

The St. Albans raid formed an important point 
subsequently in the Geneva arbitration, and Secre- 
tary Stanton declared it to be one of the most sig- 
nificant events of the war, as it threatened to involve 
Great Britain in the civil strife. 

Colonel Young is one of the pillars of the Presby- 
terian Church in Louisville, but nobody ever fools 
with him. He has been known to do a few things 
successfully in the way of calling down swashbuck- 
lers and professional "bad men" that only a man 
with a big "gun" handy, and the nerve to use it 
quickly, would ever attempt. His father was a Pres- 
byterian divine, and his first wife was a daughter 
of Rev. Dr. Stuart Robinson, a famous Presbyter- 
ian minister in Kentucky years ago. Colonel Young 
is quiet and modest, but he has four boasts which 
he sometimes makes. These are : 

"I never swore an oath. 

"I never told a lie. 

"I never drank whiskey. 

"I never touched a card." 



i 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 47 

And he might truthfully have added : "The man 
doesn't Hve that I am afraid of." 

He is sixty-five years old. He is tall, spare and 
rawboned, but has the unmistakable set-up of the 
soldier. His hair, moustache and goatee are snow- 
white. The set of his jaws and a peculiar glint in 
his eyes are the only signs of the fighter. He is 
erect, broad-shouldered and physically alert. He 
knows railroading from A to Z and built the Louis- 
ville Southern Road, now part of the Southern Rail- 
road system. People in its territory always speak 
of it as "Bennett Young's road." And the big, high 
bridge across the Kentucky River, which he built, 
they always call "Bennett Young's bridge." 

The lack of detailed railroad knowledge displayed 
by Mr. Morgan on the stand surprised him. He 
said he would call Mr. Lanier, one of Mr. Mor- 
gan's fellow voting trustees in the Southern system. 
Francis Lynde Stetson, Mr. Morgan's lawyer, told 
Colonel Young that Mr. Lanier knew nothing about 
the questions involved of the details of the road. 

"He doesn't know less about railroads than Mr. 
Morgan, surely," said the Colonel, in his softest 
tones, to Mr. Stetson. 

Colonel Young's son, Lawrence Young, now pres- 
ident of the Washington Jockey Club in Chicago, 
was the most famous college baseball pitcher in the 
country. He pitched for Princeton four years, and 
had an almost unbroken record of victories. 

Five years ago Colonel Young married for the 
second time. As soon as the hearing ended in the 
Federal Building, he said to the writer: 

"I'm going to start right away for Louisville." 

"What is your hurry. Colonel ?" 



48 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

"I'll tell you, my boy. I've got a little two-and- 
a-half-year-old baby at home. When I started for 
here she put her arms around my neck and said, 
'Come home soon, papa.' I said I would, and I'm 
going to keep my word." 

But before he left the room the courtly old gen- 
tleman who had caused Mr. Morgan so much worry 
went to everybody in the room — opposing lawyers, 
commissioners, witnesses, reporters, stenographers 
and court-room attaches — and shook each one cere- 
moniously by the hand. 

If the reader will consider that St. Albans had, at 
that time, a population of about three thousand five 
hundred, that it had an able-bodied male population, 
fit for military service, of about seven hundred and 
fifty, that it was located in the heart of the most 
populous section of the country, honey-combed with 
railroad and telegraph lines, and that this "Rebel 
horde" (of twenty-six men, led by a boy) were many 
hundred miles from their base of supplies, he will 
agree that, for daring, it stands without a parallel 
among daring deeds. 



HEROISM OF SAM DAVIS 

"You doubtless have seen that the Legislature, by 
a resolution, has appropriated a spot upon the acrop- 
olis for a monument to this young man. And the 
questions might be asked : Why did the Legisla- 
ture pass such a resolution? Who was Sam Davis? 
Did he lead listening Senates ? Was he ever a gov- 
ernor of the State? Did he lead our legions to bat- 
tle? What did he do, that the Legislature of this 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 49 

State should have given to him a place by the side 
of James K. Polk and Andrew Jackson, two Presi- 
dents of the United States ; one who slept for many 
years in sight of the Capitol, but whose tomb was 
allowed to be placed upon the Capitol site; and An- 
drew Jackson, a man national in his fame, a man 
glorious, a man known to all the earth; and out of 
all the Tennessee people since the Capitol was built, 
only these two have been allowed resting places 
there — one in his grave and the other astride of his 
bronze horse ? Then who was Sam Davis ? That is 
what the committee has asked me to tell. 

"It is a simple story of a short life and a death 
so glorious that it has no rival. His father and 
mother came to the State of Tennessee from Vir- 
ginia, that State that has furnished so much of good 
and so much of greatness to the world. I take it, as 
they came from Virginia and from his simple Eng- 
lish name, that he came of English blood. He lived 
the life of other Tennessee boys, and was at a mili- 
tary school here by Nashville in 1861, when the 
cloudburst of war started the American people. 
Tennesseean-like. the young man, scarcely nineteen, 
volunteered in the first regiment he could reach, 
which was the First Tennessee Regiment, C. S. A. 

"I have asked a soldier comrade of that regiment,, 
who was afterwards connected with his family, 
about him, for I felt certain that you would desire 
to hear of a man so famous, of a man capable of so 
heroic a deed, that any particular would be interest- 
ing. Sam Davis was nearly six feet high, and was 
as straight and slender as a mountain pine. He had 
a shock of hair black as the raven's wing, and his 
face was bronzed, his eyes black and shining like 



50 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

diamonds. He was gentle and kindly as a girl. He 
loved his mother, and was gentle in his demeanor to 
his soldier comrades; while everybody who knew 
him was fond of him. He entered the Army and 
served some time with the First Tennessee, and then 
was selected to compose a company of scouts on the 
dangerous duty of invading the enemy's line. That 
service went on until in November, 1863, when he 
was captured by the Federal soldiery near the town 
of Pulaski, Tenn. There were found upon his per- 
son maps of fortifications of Nashville and other 
places, statistics of the Federal army, their num- 
bers in infantry, their artillery, cavalry, and all it 
takes to make up an army. 

"General Dodge, who was the commander of the 
Federal corps then at Pulaski, sent for him. He 
made known to the young man the grave and seri- 
ous condition which he was in ; that he would have 
to call a court martial to try him for a spy. General 
Dodge said to him : Tf you will give me the name of 
your informant; if you will tell me where these 
maps and figures came from, I will set you free.' 
General Dodge evidently supposed that they came 
from around his headquarters, either from a staff 
ofiicer or somebody in the confidence of a staff oflfi- 
cer; he was very pressing in his desire to get this 
information. He says himself: T was struck with 
admiration at the integrity, the dignity, and the 
splendid courage of this young man, and I did my 
best to save his life.' 

"The court martial was called. Two charges were 
submitted. Charge first was that he was a spy. 
Charge second was that he was inside Federal lines 
carrying upon his person maps and communications 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 51 

detrimental to the government and to the armies of 
the United States. The specifications of both 
charges were set out. 

"To the first charge and specification he pleaded 
not guilty. T am here in my Confederate uniform, 
without concealment. / am not a spy.' To the sec- 
ond charge he pleaded guilty. The court martial, 
after a long investigation, found him guilty upon 
both charges and specifications. And when that was 
done he was confined in a separate cell, and the fact 
was made known to him that he had to die. 

"On November 26, 1863, on Thursday night, this 
young fellow, in his lonely cell, wrote a letter most 
pathetic to his mother and father. He said : 'I am 
going to die on the gallows tomorrow. Do not 
grieve for me; it will do no good. Think of me; 
do not forget me. Tell the children to be good. I 
am not afraid to die.' 

"Next morning there was sent to the jail a wagon 
to take him to the place of execution, under the or- 
ders of the court martial. One of his comrades, 
who had been captured at the same time, but was 
confined with others as a prisoner in the court-house 
of the little town, said they heard the drum roll, they 
saw the regimental march, and sitting in the wagon 
they saw their comrade and their friend. When he 
saw them he arose to his feet and bowed. He was 
taken on, over to the eastern portion of the city, on 
a bluff-side, and there, sitting on a bench, he awaited 
the action of the military authorities. 

"General Dodge, thinking that in the presence of 
the scaffold, in the presence of immediate death, this 
young hero might have changed his mind, and that 
he might give him the information that he so much 



52 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

desired, sent Captain Chickasaw, his chief scout, to 
him. He touched him on the shoulder with his hand, 
and said : 'It is not too late. Give me the informa- 
tion, and you will be escorted to the Confederate 
lines.' That scaffold loomed up, and was a hide- 
ous spectre in his front, but he turned and said: 
'Captain, give my thanks to General Dodge for the 
interest he has taken in me; but if I had a thousand 
lives, I would surrender them here and now before 
I would do a thing like that; betray my friends or 
the name of my informer.' 

"Look at the gracious and sweet demeanor — no 
bluffing, no bravado, no defiance, and no truculence 
— of that gallant young spirit on the verge of his 
grave ! He was a gentleman. He had the gentle- 
ness in him to thank his enemies for the courtesies 
that they had done him. He asked Captain Arm- 
strong: 'How long have I to live?' He replied: 
'Fifteen minutes.' Davis said : 'The boys will have 
to fight the balance of the battles without me.' Cap- 
tain Armstrong said : 'I hate to do this thing ; I 
would rather die myself.' 

"Standing around that scaffold were the stern pha- 
lanxes of the Government, under orders, with their 
guns in their hands. This young man was alone. 
He was twenty-one years and a few months of age. 
He had no counsel; he had no friend; he had no 
backer; that terrible thing was before him, and the 
resolution that he had was of his own making. He 
arose to his feet and looked around. What did he 
see? He looked upon the sun for the last time. Life 
is very, very sweet. It is particularly sweet when 
we are about to lose it. The sun that had kissed his 
cheek to a tan for twenty-one years was giving him 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy S3 

her last kiss; the breeze that waved his raven hair 
was blowing on it for the last time ; the hills of Pu- 
laski were standing silent around him. Nearness to 
death must have quickened his faculties — and how he 
must have loved to live ; how that heroic young spirit 
must have hated to die ! Through his veins was run- 
ning blood like quicksilver, singing to him the song 
of life. The earth was very beautiful; the sky was 
very blue. He could almost hear the dropping of the 
tears of his mother ; he could hear her low moan and 
the groan of agony that came from his father. Per- 
haps there was another somewhere in Tennessee who 
was on her knees at that time — somebody must have 
loved that glorious young fellow. He could look 
over toward the South, and there he could see the 
hard-pressed flag of his country, and he could hear 
the shout of his comrades fighting for what they be- 
lieved was just. Oh, how he must have hated to 
leave them to fight that battle alone — this gallant, 
glorious, and devoted young soldier ! He died with 
the calmness of a philosopher, the sternness of a pa- 
triot, and the serene courage of a martyr. Never did 
a deeper gloom spread over any community than did 
over that of Pulaski when Davis's tragic fate was 
made known. The deed was openly and boldly stig- 
matized by the common soldiers as a needless assas- 
sination ; men and women in every part of the town 
indulged in unavailing moans, and even the little 
children, with terror depicted on their countenances, 
ran about the streets weeping with uncontrollable 
grief. No man ever awakened a deeper sympathy. 
His sad fate is one of the touching themes of the 
country; and whenever his name is mentioned, the 
tear rises unbidden to the eye of the oldest as well as 



54 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

of the youngest. His memory is embalmed among 
the people as a self-immolated martyr to what he con- 
ceived a pure and holy duty — the preservation of the 
sacredness of confidence. This case furnished a mel- 
ancholy example of the atrocities still permitted un- 
der the usages of civilized warfare." 

The following is copy of a pass given scouts, such 
as Sam Davis carried when captured : 

"Guards and Pickets Pass 

through all our lines with or without countersign. 

"Braxton Bragg, 
"General Commanding." 



BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER 

Nothing is more pathetic than the fratricidal 
nature of the Civil War — Brother against brother, 
father against son; relatives of the same name, 
brought together, not in family reunion, but in the 
fierce strife of battle. For example : Admiral Poor 
bombarding Norfolk, and his son defending the 
walls. Two young men from York, Pa., twin broth- 
ers, Milton and Horace Bonham, fighting in the 
ranks, one from Mississippi, one from Pennsylvania. 

When Bonham, of Mississippi, went to see his 
brother in York, Pa., after the war there was great 
difficulty in preventing his being lynched for having 
gone South. 

General Braxton Bragg, most ardent in his efforts 
to substitute the Confederate banner for the United 
States flag, and his namesake and relative having this 
record at Sumter : "In the death of Major Henry M. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 55 

Bragg, a brave and gallant young officer, whose for- 
tune It was when a mere youth to participate in some 
of the most stirring scenes of our great rebellion, has 
passed from our midst in the prime and pride of early 
manhood. Major Bragg's active war service com- 
menced m 1861, at the tender age of seventeen, as 
lieutenant in the Thirteenth Regiment of New York 
Mditia, at that time serving in Virginia. In Septem- 
ber, 1862, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 
One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Regiment of New 
York Volunteers, was appointed a captain and aide- 
de-camp by President Lincoln in August, 1863 and 
m March, 1865, received the brevet of major, for 
gallantry and meritorious conduct' during the war 
From August, 1862, until the close of the war he 
served upon the staff of Major-General Gillmore as 
aide-de-camp, taking part in the campaign in central 
Kentucky durmg the autumn, winter, and spring of 
1862-63; in the operations against Charleston in 
1863, comprismg the assault of Morris Island, the 
reduction of Fort Sumter, and the siege and capture 
of Fort Wagner; and in 1864 in the battle of Drew- 
ry's Bluff, and all the numerous engagements of the 
Tenth Corps in the vicinity of Bermuda Hundred 
and Petersburg. In the winter and spring of 1865 
he again served upon the coast of South Carolina 
was present at the reoccupation of Charleston by the 
Union forces, and with his own hands replaced our 
flag upon the ramparts of Fort Sumter. Upon the 
reorganization of the Regular Army in 1866, he was 
appointed a lieutenant in the Second Regiment of 
Infantry, and in November of that year was, at his 
own request, transferred to the Third Regirnent of 
Cavalry, serving with it in several campaigns against 



56 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

the Indians for a period of over three years, until 
forced to retire from the service by impaired health. 
"In the subject of this brief sketch a physical organ- 
ization of the most sensitive delicacy was conjoined 
to great force of character, high personal daring in 
the presence of danger, and conspicuous gallantry 
upon the field of battle. He was a gentle and most 
devoted son and brother, a generous and beloved 
comrade, and a brave soldier." 

A singular instance of identity of names is in evi- 
dence in Baltimore now. Kirby Smith, Esq., one of 
the professors at the Johns Hopkins University, is 
a son of General Kirby Smith, of the U. S. Army, 
but a namesake of General Kirby Smith, of the Con- 
federate Army. The two generals met in battle and 
the Union general was so struck by the conduct of 
his adversary that he named his first-born son in his 
honor. He wished it to be distinctly understood that 
his son was named for his adversary and not for him- 
self. These men did not retain the bitterness of the 
fight — each found something to admire and respect 
in the other. 

I am sure the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary 
of the Confederate States, would have blushed to 
acknowledge his relative. General Hunter, U. S. A., 
of the Valley campaign. 

Capt. I. M. E. Valk, of West Virginia, was cap- 
tain and quartermaster of the Ninth North Carolina 
Regiment, and his brother. Dr. Wm. W. Valk, was 
member of Congress from New York and a surgeon 
in the United States Army. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 57 

It seems almost incredible that there was an Abra- 
ham Lincoln on both sides — the President, and 
another Abraham Lincoln, a private in the First 
Virginia Cavalry, Company F, Jefferson County. 
He deserted in 1864, so the other side may have him 
too. 

Miss Meredith, of Baltimore, told me since the 
war that the greatest anguish she ever endured was 
in seeing her brother, Gilmor Meredith, an officer in 
the Fifth Maryland, arming to repel the Seventh 
New York, of which her nephew, Meredith How- 
land, was a member. 



WASHINGTON COLLEGE^ NOW WASHINGTON AND 
LEE UNIVERSITY 

In reply to a toast, "Liberty Hall Volunteers, the 
student heroes of 1861, to whom Liberty and the 
honor of their country were more dear than life it- 
self," Hon. Wm. A. Anderson, at the Alumni Din- 
ner of Washington and Lee University, June 15th, 
1892, spoke as follows: 

In March, 1861, a secession flag was run up in the 
night above the statue of Washington, but the act 
was disapproved by the faculty and by the great body 
of students. At the request of the President of the 
College, that great and good Dr. George Judkins, 
the flag was taken down by Willie Preston, with the 
approval of his fellow students ; that same Willie 
Preston who afterwards glorified the illustrious 
name he bore, by a heroic death, which he met at 
the Second Battle of Manassas, in the memorable 
charge of the Stonewall Brigade, under the leader- 
ship of that knightly Christian soldier, Hugh A. 



58 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

White, captain of the Liberty Hall Volunteers. The 
question of secession was argued for and against by 
every body of men in the Southern States. Always 
conservative, Washington College saw in secession 
no remedy for any wrong; no security for any right. 
But, while devoted to the Constitution and willing 
to surrender every thing but honor and liberty to 
prevent the disruption of the Union, the men and 
youths who made Washington College what it then 
was, believed that their first allegiance was to their 
State, and that it was not in the constitutional power 
of the Federal Government to coerce a State. When 
war, unconstitutional war, was begun upon our sis- 
ter States by the Government at Washington, Vir- 
ginia, with a courage unsurpassed in history, took 
position with the weaker side, not for dis-imion, but 
against coercion. At first call to arms a military 
company was formed by the students of the College. 
They were presented by the women of Falling 
Spring, Rockbridge County, with a flag, upon which 
was embroidered the coat of arms of Virginia, and 
the motto, "Pro arts et focis." That banner was con- 
spicuous afterwards upon the perilous edge of battle ; 
its lovely folds were stained and rent and torn in 
the hailstorm of shot and shell through which it was 
borne by the young hands to which it was entrusted. 
Though thus rent and torn and stained, it was never 
trailed in dishonor! There was not a boy in that 
company who would not have laid down his life, his 
young life, cheerfully to shield that little banner from 
shame or ignominy. It was the flag of Virginia, 
the ensign of their Alma Mater. Before the coun- 
try had realized that war was upon us, the company 
was accepted by the then Governor of Virginia, John 



i 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 59 

Letcher. It was a beautiful spring morning the 
order was given to march. Behold them — a com- 
pany, 64 strong, composed of slender youths; their 
average age, not seventeen or eighteen years; their 
average weight 130 pounds. There is an earnestness 
in them, a resolute expression on their youthful 
faces; there is a light of liberty, a glance of glory 
in their eyes, only seen when men, high in hope, are 
about to enter on some arduous enterprise of danger 
or duty. The tender farewells have been spoken and 
eyes have gazed into other eyes that will meet their 
loving glance no more. Mr. Wm. Dodd offered a 
prayer which seemed to have been inspired. Tears 
came into many eyes in those youthful ranks, but 
Avith smiles shining through their tears, with elas- 
tic step the already well-drilled volunteers marched 
away to the field of their glory. Soon afterwards 
they were assigned to the Fourth Virginia Infantry 
Brigade of General T. J. Jackson. From that day, 
when this company marched from Lexington to join 
the army, in every battle in which General Jackson 
was engaged, and after his untimely death in every 
battle in which the Army of Northern Virginia was 
engaged, it bore its steady and heroic share; and 
surrendered with Lee at Appomattox. As sure in- 
dication of the sort of fighting the company did, the 
following incomplete statement of the losses it sus- 
tained in some of the battles is given : First Manas- 
sas, 7 killed, 6 wounded, 40 present in the fight; 
Second Manassas, 3 killed, 7 wounded, 25 present 
for duty! Chancellorsville, 2 killed, 16 wounded, out 
of 28 present in battle. The casualties of the com- 
pany in four years' service, 40 battles and contests in 



60 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

which it took part, were: Killed, 26; wounded, 59; 
died of disease contracted in the service, 15; cap- 
tured, 46. 

The company was recruited from time to time, so 
the total roll was 1 50 from the beginning of the war 
to the end. These recruits fairly maintained the 
reputation of the company achieved in its earlier en- 
gagements. Several of the company were trans- 
ferred to other branches of the service, and one. Col. 
J. W. Reily, was promoted and assigned to staff 
duty. There were many instances of conspicuous 
gallantry on the part of individual members of the 
company. Badges of honor for distinguished cour- 
age were conferred upon privates George Chapin 
and N. A. Lackey, both of whom were afterwards 
killed in battle. Lieut. J. H. Jones and Private A. T. 
Barclay were commended, in general orders, for con- 
spicuous gallantry; the former after the battle of 
Sharpsburg; the latter after Mine Run, and Private 
Barclay was promoted to the perilous office of en- 
sign to the regiment. In the official report of the 
engagement at Mine Run or Locust Hill special men- 
tion is made of the gallantry of Private A. T. Bar- 
clay in the following terms : "Among the non-com- 
missioned officers wounded is Color Sergeant J. H. 
Lawrence, who was severely wounded through both 
legs while gallantly bearing the colors of the regi- 
ment against the foe, and I desire to mention spec- 
ially the conspicuous gallantry of Private A, T. Bar- 
clay, Company I, who seized the colors when Ser- 
geant Lawrence fell and carried them through the 
balance of the fight." 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 61 

''20 April, 1896. 
"Mrs. Robt. Hull, 

"1020 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Md. 

''Dear Madam : Gen. Custis Lee, who is ill, de- 
sires me to answer your letter of the 17th inst. a& 
follows : 

"During the early part of the late war between 
the States there were many boys, under sixteen years, 
who entered the army; especially in the cavalry, ar- 
tillery or as couriers to general officers. Many of 
them served to the end of the war if they were not 
killed in the mean time. After the passage of the 
conscript law, which gathered in all boys eighteen 
years old and upwards, there were still many boys 
who entered the army under the age of eighteen 
years. Gen. Custis Lee has sent you an account of 
the company of boys that went from this College 
("Liberty Hall Volunteers") whose ages were 
stated, he believes, at either sixteen or eighteen. His 
brother, Robert E. Lee, Jr., must have been more 
than fourteen years old when he entered the army, ^is 
his father was very unwilling for boys to go into the 
field while there were so many grown men who could 
not be armed. Gen. Custis Lee is sorry not to be 
able to give you more information on the subject, 
but will gladly do so whenever he can. 
"Respectfully, 

"Thos. E. Marshall, Jr." 



HENRY E. SHEPHERD 



Henry E. Shepherd was born at Fayetteville, N. 
C, and was at the University of Virginia when 



62- Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

the war broke out. He left immediately and joined, 
as private, the first regiment organized in his State, 
and at eighteen years of age was elected first lieu- 
tenant of the Forty-third North Carolina Infantry 
under Gen. D. H. Hill and Gen. J. Bankhead Ma- 
gruder. He served in the campaign in front of Rich- 
mond, 1862 ; was with General Hill in his movements 
against Newberne and Washington, N. C. ; and in 
1863 was transferred to Virginia and was in the 
vanguard of General Lee's army during the invasion 
of Maryland. At Gettysburg he was severely 
wounded in the attack upon Gulp's Hill, his brigade 
having been detached from General Rodes to co- 
operate with General Johnson's division in that car- 
nival of blood. 

In this same engagement Capt. William Murray 
met his heroic death, Douglas was wounded, and 
Col. J. R. Herbert received three shots, one of which 
was most dangerous. After Mr. Shepherd was shot 
he lay for more than thirty minutes directly in the 
line of the Federal artillery, but was at last carried 
to an improvised hospital, his wound was dressed, 
and he had a cup of genuine coffee — an inexpressi- 
ble luxury, as he had not tasted food for nearly three 
days, except a few cherries and some fossilized 
hard tack. He fell into the hands of the enemy on 
General Lee's retreat into Virginia, and was a pris- 
oner for nearly two months in Baltimore in West 
Building, used as a hospital, on Concord street, near 
the docks. While in Baltimore he was subjected to 
every indignity and brutality; was marched in the 
broiling August sun from Camden Station to Marsh 
Market; suffered tortures from thirst and endured 
the agony of slow starvation. His letters were taken 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 63 

by the prison authorities, his friends kept from ap- 
proaching him by the intervention of the bayonet — 
absolute terrorism prevailed in all directions. Nearly 
the only kindness he received was from the Catholic 
Sisters of Charity, who in certain hospitals had the 
care of sick and wounded. At last he found his way 
South and was paroled at the dissolution of the Con- 
federate Army. He was complimented for gallantry 
on the field of Gettysburg, and despite his youth was 
personally known to our sovereign chief. Gen. R. E. 
Lee. He is now living in Baltimore in an import- 
ant position and is an uncompromising Confederate, 
and holding the conviction that the justice and truth 
of the Southern cause are vindicated in the light of 
contemporary developments and are much more ap- 
parent in the political tendencies of 1904 than in the 
first stages of the struggle of 1861. 



GEORGE BRINTON M CLELLAN ENGLISH 

Long before the Civil War there went from Ala- 
bama to Philadelphia, for his education, a young 
Southerner, Thomas English, the son of a rich cot- 
ton planter. While at college Mr. English met. 
wooed and won Miss Frederica McClellan, the beau- 
tiful and accomplished daughter of Dr. George Mc- 
Clellan, of Philadelphia. In her adopted State Mrs. 
English was surrounded with all the luxury that the 
landed estates could bestow in those antebellum days. 
She occupied the center of a large social circle in one 
of the most aristocratic cities of the South, her pa- 
latial home being located near the Alabama River 



64 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

and within a few hours' ride of the Gulf City (Mo- 
bile). Mr. and Mrs. English, with their children, 
frequently visited their Northern relations — the Mc- 
Clellans, of Philadelphia. In the spring of 1861 
Mrs. English, with her children, were in the North, 
and when Fort Sumter was fired on were still north 
of Mason and Dixon's line. Her husband at that 
time was on his cotton plantation in Alabama. 
Lieut. George B. McClellan, Mrs. English's brother, 
had been made commander of the Army of the Poto- 
mac. In order to allow the reunion of the family an 
appeal was made to General McClellan, who allowed 
Mrs. English and her children to pass through the 
lines and join her husband at some convenient point 
south of the Potomac. 

Thomas English became a captain in the Confed- 
erate company which was Gen. Braxton Bragg's es- 
cort. In the same company was Captain English's 
eldest son, George Brinton McClellan English, a 
youth of seventeen or eighteen years. Young Eng- 
lish was captured, carried to a Northern prison, and 
while there his aunt, Mrs. McClellan, heard of it and 
sent him a box of luxuries, clothing and money to 
make him more comfortable in prison life, at the 
same time writing him that her interest was prompt- 
ed only by love for a nephew and not for the cause 
he had espoused. Young George B. McC. English 
refused the kindness of his aunt and, it is said, re- 
turned the box and money, writing her that he would 
die before he would accept the gifts on her condi- 
tions. He did die in prison. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 65 

EXPLOIT OF SERGEANT SHANK AND HIS MEN IN '64 

Dr. Carter Berkeley, of Staunton, contributes the 
following interesting war story: 

In August, 1864, I, with a section of McClana- 
han's Horse Artillery, was encamped with Gen- 
eral Imboden's brigade in Clarke County, a 
mile or two from the Shenandoah River. The 
Sixty-second Virginia was picketing at Berrie's 
Ferry, commanded by Colonel George Smith and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lang, two magnificent officers. 
We had just returned from General Early's great 
march on Washington. Our command had been ac- 
tively engaged all summer and the men pretty well 
worn out, and we were lying there quietly resting. 
Colonel Smith sent word to the General that every- 
thing was quiet on the river, but that he would like 
to have a piece of artillery sent to him. I only had 
one gun fit for duty. My other gun had been dis- 
abled a few days before in a lively little fight near 
Leesburg. I was in a very bad condition, so ill that 
I could not sit on my horse. The General knowing 
this, told me to send the gun down to the ferry in 
command of a sergeant, saying that there was no 
necessity for my going. I told Sergeant Shank to 
take the gun and report to Colonel Smith. He took 
with him a squad of young fellows from Randolph 
County, and a friend of his, Michael Henkle. I do 
not believe a braver body of men ever took a gun 
into action. The y had been with me at New Market. 
Piedmont, Lynchburg and many other battles, and I 
knew their worth. 

The men of the Sixty-second were then lying un- 
der the shade on the banks of the beautiful Shenan- 



66 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

doah, scattered along the river in a thin line. Some 
were mending their clothes, some sleeping, some 
smoking and fishing, and many of them writing 
letters to their people at home, but all had their arms 
by their side. The beautiful river was rolling 
sweetly and gently on to the sea. Everything looked 
calm and serene. Who would have thought that in 
a few minutes a scene so peaceful would be broken 
into by a bloody tragedy; that the beautiful blue 
grass would soon be stained with human blood, the 
velvety sod torn by the iron feet of charging squad- 
rons, and the placid river filled with dead and dying 
men and horses ! But such is war. Our sergeant 
had just about gotten in hearing distance of the ferry 
when he heard the rattle of musketry and the "Rebel 
yell" of triumph. The enemy had suddenly appeared 
on the other side, and a squadron of cavalry had 
made a dash across the ford to see what was there, 
iand they saw ; for they recrossed more rapidly than 
they had crossed. But not all of them. 

The sergeant reported to the Colonel at once, and 
was told to select the best position he could and fire 
on the enemy, which he thought were in large force 
on the other side, and that the reconnoitering party 
would report how few men we had and would soon 
return in much larger force. Shank was on the road 
that ran down to the ferry. The water was low and 
now fordable. Just to his right was a ridge running 
parallel with the river and on it he took his position. 
To his surprise, when he got on it, he discovered the 
enemy's infantry and cavalry in large force massed 
in a bottom on the other side, in easy range of his 
gun. Without further orders, he opened on them, 
throwing with deadly aim shrapnel into the body 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 67 

of human beings. Men and horses went down at 
every fire ; and the fire was rapid, for veterans were 
behind the gun. The Yankee general seeing that, 
unless that gun was silenced, his expedition would 
be a failure, ordered up a six-gun battery, and soon 
made it hot for the gallant little squad. The young 
hero saw that he must do something to save his men 
for the expected charge, so he made the men run the 
limber and the horses behind the crest of the hill, 
and ordered them to lie down and protect themselves. 
But in order to let the Yankees know that they were 
still on hand, he and his friend Henkle kept up a fire 
from the gun alternately. The Yankee general saw 
that he had to quiet that gun before he could make 
a successful charge across the river; so he ordered 
a regiment of cavalry next to the ford to dash across 
and capture the gun. They came on gallantly, rid- 
ing over the thin line of infantry. Up the road they 
came, thundering with a shout of victory as they 
thought; turned to the left and dashed up the hill, 
expecting to take the gun in the rear. But sad and 
terrible was their disappointment. 

The gallant and cool sergeant, seeing the intent of 
the movement, ran his gun by hand to a thicket just 
on the right, and when the enemy got to the place 
where they had seen the gun, they met instead a 
deadly shower of canister; and so rapidly was the 
gun served by those gallant Randolph boys, that the 
enemy fled back down the hill, every man for him- 
self, trying to recross the river, which few of them 
ever did ; for Smith had gotten his men together 
and was ready for them, and poured into their al- 
ready depleted ranks a terrible fire, and not taking 
time to reload, knocked the fugitives from their 



68 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

horses with their guns. Shank rushed out from his 
position and captured two cavalrymen who had been 
dismounted. Each had a loaded six-shooter and 
forty rounds in his belt. Shank has one of the pis- 
tols now. The fight was over. 

Imboden and General Bradley Johnson, hearing 
the firing, came as rapidly as possible to the assist- 
ance of the little band, but the Yankees had gone. 
Our young sergeant came down to the road, and 
was modestly standing there, seeming not to know 
that he had done anything great. He had shown 
himself to be a born soldier, not only brave, but a 
strategist. 

As General Imboden rode up, Colonel Long said : 
"General, there stands the hero of the day. But for 
him, we could not have held the ford." 

The General and other officers shook hands with 
him and congratulated him, and as the compliments 
were showered on him, he very justly began to feel 
as proud as did Wellington after the Battle of Wat- 
erloo. But he always gave the brave Randolph boys 
their share of the glory. When I heard the firing, I, 
as painful as it was, got on my horse and went to my 
brave boys as soon as I could. But it was all over. 
The work had been done, and well done. The Gen- 
eral told me to send him a recommendation for 
Shank's promotion, which I did. He endorsed it and 
sent it to General Early ; and he, no doubt, sent the 
papers to Richmond, where they stayed, as many 
others of the same kind had done. Our Government 
made a great mistake not to commission such men. 
Napoleon did it. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 69 

Samuel F. Shank is now living near North River, 
in Rockingham, and Mike Henkle in Augusta; and 
both are respected citizens. 

The sergeant at that time was about eighteen years 
of age. His comrades will all testify that he always 
had the bearing of a soldier, a gentleman, and a 
Christian. In reviewing his conduct at Berrie's 
Ferry, I do not think it too much to say that what 
he did compared favorably with Stonewall Jackson's 
conduct when he won his first laurels at Cherubusco. 

For the last two years of the war I had the honor 
to command a section in McClanahan's Horse Ar- 
tillery. Most of the men under my command were 
from the Valley and from West Virginia. Their 
ages ran from about seventeen to twenty. General 
Lee once said that there never was a finer body of 
soldiers on earth than the Artillery Corps of the 
Army of Northern Virginia; that he had never 
known them under any circumstances to desert their 
guns. I can truthfully say for those young fellows 
who served under me, that they were always cheer- 
ful and obedient to orders in camp and on the march, 
and in battle they stood to their guns, even when 
death looked them in the face. I am proud to have 
been their commander and I believe that I have their 
love and affection ; they certainly have mine from 
the bottom of my heart. And I pray that when the 
bugle sounds the last tattoo that we will all meet in 
the "Sweet bye and bye." 



HENRY LLOYD TURNER 



Henry Lloyd Turner, the son of Henry Turner 
and his wife, Susan Riddick Boush, of Norfolk, was 



70 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

at the Virginia Military Institute when the war 
broke out, and though only sixteen, left immediately 
and joined the Fifth North Carolina State troops, in 
which his first cousin, Samuel Flanegan, was a cap- 
tain. Later he was with the V. M. I. Cadets when 
they were ordered to join Stonewall Jackson in his 
campaign up the Valley against Fremont and Mil- 
roy when the Battle of Bull Pasture Mountain took 
place and we followed them to Franklin in West Vir- 
ginia. He was in the Battle of Seven Pines and in 
the Seven Days' fighting around Richmond to Mal- 
vern Hill, where he was incapacitated by an attack 
of typhoid pneumonia, followed by rheumatism. On 
his partial recovery he was sent to Baltimore on se- 
cret service for the Confederate Government and was 
there until nearly the close of the war. He had many 
narrow escapes from capture while in Baltimore as 
it was so closely watched and guarded, the United 
States Government knowing well there was nothing 
she would not do or attempt for the South, even 
though Maryland did not secede! 



BENJAMIN TAYLOR HOLLIDAY 

At sixteen Benjamin Taylor Holliday was so anx- 
ious to enter the Confederate Army that his father 
was induced to consent, and he with a number of 
very young boys from Winchester were brave and 
gallant soldiers — Wm. McGuire, Charlie Dandridge, 
the Glass brothers, and many others, all eager for 
the fray. I have been able to learn very few par- 
ticulars of these boys, only general accounts of their 
dash and courage in the fight and the spirit of fun 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 71 

that helped them to bear the privations and suffer- 
ings of camp and march, never losing their manly 
honor and steady principle. After three years' hard 
service Holliday was captured and taken to Point 
Lookout, where he remained for twenty-two months. 
After the surrender he and a friend were carried to 
Richmond and there given transportation as far as 
Staunton on their way home. At Staunton a friend 
offered to borrow money to take him to Winchester, 
but Holliday declined, saying he did not know 
whether his family had anything left with which to 
pay the loan, as Winchester had been occupied for 
months at a time by first one army and then another. 
In his eagerness to get home Holliday walked the 
whole distance, ninety miles, in two days. His sister 
saw him coming in his old worn uniform, and said 
to herself, "I will ask this soldier-boy if he knows 
anything of my brother." The soldier-boy smiled 
and she recognized "Ben." 



CARTER BERKELEY 



Carter Berkeley was at the University of Virginia 
when the war broke out, and went with the Sons 
of Liberty to Harper's Ferry; but General Lee soon 
disbanded them and sent them home to raise other 
companies for the Army. He joined the Staunton 
Artillery, then commanded by Capt. John D. Im- 
boden, and was recommended by him for promotion, 
but did not receive his commission until 1863. After 
the battles in front of Richmond he was transferred 
by General Lee to the Clarke Artillery, and after 
eight months' service with it he received his com- 



72 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

mission as lieutenant of artillery and orders to re- 
port to Captain, now General, Imboden. (His cap- 
tain was a fine soldier but a very delicate man, and 
Lieutenant Berkeley was frequently in command of 
the company.) On his way he fell in with the Eighth 
Virginia, commanded by his brother-in-law, Nor- 
borne Berkeley, and fought with it in the Second 
Battle of Manassas. 

Four Berkeley brothers were the four highest offi- 
cers in this regiment. Norborne was Colonel, Ed- 
mund was Lieutenant-Colonel, William was Major, 
and Charlie, the youngest, was Captain. Every 
Berkeley in Virginia able to carry a musket was in 
the service. Only one was killed, but five were 
wounded at the battle of Gettysburg — four in Pick- 
ett's charge! After the Battle of Manassas one of 
the family met a Berkeley servant leading several 
riderless horses, and exclaimed in horror, "Where is 
your master?" "Dey is all killed. Missis!" he re- 
plied, weeping bitterly. One was killed and all were 
wounded. 

In a letter from Lieutenant Berkeley he gives an 
account of three young soldiers : "My youngest 
brother, Spotswood, went into the Army with Frank 
Brooke at about sixteen, and both joined my com- 
pany, McClanahan's Battery. Spotswood began 
writing to me about it, and worrying mother long 
before he was sixteen, and she told him whenever I 
said so he might go in. So he wrote me an appealing 
letter, promising to give me all the money he had 
and to carry water for me as long as the war lasted ! 
[Spotswood Berkeley in his first letter to his mother 
said, "You need not worry about me; the only ser- 
vice I have seen so far has been to hold the Captain's 




CARTER BERKELEY. 

OPPOSITE PAGE 70 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 73 

horse in a pouring rain while he paid a long visit to 
his girl." — Ed.] It was wonderful how the young 
boys in Virginia rushed to the front as soon as they 
were allowed, and well did they know it was no 
child's play, for every day they heard the roar of 
cannon and saw the dead and wounded being 
brought home. Many times my heart ached to see 
the little fellows lying stiff and stark, their faces to 
the front, and it was awful to see them carried to 
the rear mutilated and bleeding ; but it was grand to 
see how their poor mothers bore it. My mother 
never wrote me anything but an encouraging and 
cheerful letter. Just after the Second Battle of 
Manassas I went to a house filled with wounded to 
look for a friend. I saw there two young fellows, 
brothers, one not sixteen, the other not eighteen, 
both badly wounded. They were sons of Colonel 
Doyle, from Staunton. Bob, the youngest, was a 
beautiful blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked boy. He was 
cheerful and asked me if I wouldn't beg one of the 
kind ladies who were waiting on him to get him a 
kitten or a puppy to play with. As I bade them 
good-by they both said, 'I wish we could see mama ; 
do you think she will come ?' I met her the next day 
on her way to her boys. She got there in time to 
see poor little Bob die under an operation. Jack re- 
covered. Her husband was killed at Piedmont — 
shot and bayonetted after he fell, trying to rally his 
men." 

EDWARD BOAG,, AN ENGLISH BOY 

After one of the great battles, Fredericksburg I 
think, several wounded were brought to my division 



74 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

of the Winder Hospital, and my heart was with each 
one as he was Hfted from the ambulance and laid 
on the floor until the surgeons could examine him 
before being put into the clean clothes and beds we 
had prepared. I noticed particularly two boys, both 
wounded in the head, and like the others covered 
with mud and blood. The smaller was so enveloped 
in bandages that not a feature of his face could be 
seen, but there were two naked feet, small and well 
shaped, as were his dirty hands. His pulse beat so 
feebly that I begged a passing doctor to tell me if 
there was still life. He replied, "Don't you see he 
is so wounded that he would be deaf, blind, and per- 
haps dumb should he live, for the bullet shattered 
his jaw, passed through his eye and came out at the 
ear. It is better he and his comrade go to the dead 
house." But I would not. Inserting a small tube, 
a pipe stem, in the corner of his mouth I poured in 
a drop of milk toddy, and as it did not ooze out I 
knew it had been swallowed. So every time I passed 
on my rounds I gave him another drop, and stopped 
a moment to pick the gravel and mud from his bleed- 
ing feet. Eventually we got him washed and in bed, 
over which was placed "unknown." For three 
months he lay without speech, hearing, or sight. 
Meanwhile an advertisement appeared in the North- 
ern papers asking for information of an English 
"lad" named Edward Boag, whose mother had been 
a South Carolinian, and who in a moment of enthu- 
siasm had run away from his English school to fight 
for his mother's country. There was no clue to hi<5 
whereabouts but that he had enlisted in a South Car- 
olina regiment as color-bearer. The hospitals were 
searched for "Eddie Boag" in vain, though our 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 75 

medical director (who was of the same family) came 
himself, but did not recognize the poor unconscious 
boy. When he came to himself he told us he was 
Edward Boag, and he was sent by flag of truce to 
his father in New York and taken to England. He 
sufficiently recovered to persuade one of his South 
Carolina cousins to marry him, and yet lives, or did 
live, in Brooklyn. 

UNKNOWN 

The other little fellow died in a few hours, never 
having recovered his senses. 

UNKNOWN 

At the hospital one day there was a poor little 
boy of fourteen to have his leg amputated at the 
thigh. I went to him and said, "My dear, there is 
great danger attending this operation. Don't you 
think you had better make your peace with God?" 
He answered, "I have made my peace with God long 
ago." I then asked him if he was a member of the 
church, and he said, "No; but when a boy dies in 
defense of his country he has made his peace with 
God already." The doctors, who were feeling his 
pulse all the time, said it never wavered or fluttered 
while the dreadful preparations were being made, — 
the instruments, the blood and all the horrible para- 
phernalia, — adding, "This is the stuff of which he- 
roes are made." 

I could fill a volume with incidents like these, dear 
Mrs. Hull, but spare you. 

Most truly yours, 

E. V. Mason. 



76 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

My Dear Cousin : 

I persuaded a daughter of Steve Timberlake, one 
of the best of our boy Company B, and one of seven 
gallant Timberlakes in it, to give me this incident 
and picture for your book if you want it. He has 
modestly forborne to tell of the part he took in the 
sabre-fighting with the detachment in the woods, on 
the occasion spoken of. 

Your affectionate cousin, 

Thos. D. Ranson. 

a stage-coach experience 

In February, 1863, our brigade, Ashby's cavalry, 
was encamped near Mt. Jackson, and my company, 
Twelfth Virginia Cavalry, had been sent to picket 
a back road, left of Woodstock. After picketing 
one week we were ordered back to the regiment, but 
seven of us, Warner McKown, David Hewitt, 
George Timberlake, James L. Timberlake, James H. 
Timberlake, "Abe" Gordon and myself, knowing 
that Milroy's army was then at Winchester, con- 
cluded to make an independent raid on his rear. 
Following the mountain range, we traveled all that 
day and night until three o'clock, halting at the edge 
of a wood. Tired out we put our blankets down 
and went to sleep. When we awoke at noon the 
next day we were much surprised to find ourselves 
covered with a layer of snow about six inches deep. 
We went to supper that night at the home of one of 
the boys who lived nearby, and though it began to 
sleet and rain, we kept on and had not been gone fif- 
teen minutes when a company of Yankees sur- 




STEVE TIMBERLAKE. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 76 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 77 

rounded the house looking for those "blamed 
Rebels." 

That night about twelve we reached Smithfield, 
and the next day, as we were pushing along the Win- 
chester turnpike, we learned at a blacksmith's shop 
that a stage-coach carrying Federal soldiers and 
U. S. mail was expected to pass about sunset. De- 
termining to tackle it we retraced our steps and soon 
heard it coming. We surrounded it and gave the 
command to halt. On top, besides the driver, were 
two or three soldiers, and within Milroy's adjutant- 
general, the paymaster, and several others. We 
afterwards learned that the paymaster had over 
$100,000 with him. When we ordered them to sur- 
render they hesitated for a moment, but our pistols 
were persuasive. 

As we were unhitching the stage horses to mount 
the prisoners we heard another stage approaching, 
and leaving one of the boys to guard the prisoners 
we went to capture the other coach, which we did. 
By this time it was quite dark and one of the pris- 
oners managed to escape unseen, and procuring a 
horse from a friendly Quaker on the road he soon 
informed Milroy of what had happened. Milroy 
at once ordered out two regiments, one to take the 
road west of Winchester, the other the Millwood 
Pike, both regiments to post a squadron at every 
cross road so as to intercept us. In the mean time, 
after securing our booty and prisoners, we started 
across the country, reaching the Millwood Pike at 
the "Old Chapel," two of us acting as advance 
guards. We then pushed on toward Millwood, feel- 
ing pretty confident ; but our state of mind soon un- 



78 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

derwent a change, for as we neared the village we 
came upon two companies of Yankee soldiers. 

"Who comes there?" we were challenged. 

"First New York," we replied. 

"Advance, First New York!" they ordered us. 

"You advance!" we insisted. 

After parleying for a while their captain gave the 
command to charge. Thinking "discretion the bet- 
ter part of valor," we two turned heel and fled, soon 
overtaking the others. In a moment the Yankees 
were upon us and our prisoners rolled off into the 
road while we made good time back toward the 
"Old Chapel." 

One of our number, young David Hewitt, of 
Howard County, Maryland, as gallant a fellow as 
ever lived, was soon overtaken, as his horse was 
lame, and refusing to surrender was shot down and 
instantly killed. Another boy, George Timberlake, 
was taken prisoner, as he had changed horses with 
one of our prisoners who complained of great dis- 
comfort. He was riding one of the bare-back stage 
horses, and in attempting to dodge a sabre cut rolled 
off on the ground. The Yankee captain by this time 
had gotten ahead of his men, and having emptied 
his pistols was using his sabre. Still another of our 
fellows was doomed to suffer, the captain laying his 
face open from ear to the mouth. 

[It was Timberlake, who, rallying from the shock 
of the blow, and before the captain could strike a 
second time, shot and killed him instantly. — Ed.] 

The captain was then killed, his death putting an 
end to the pursuit. The prisoner, George Timber- 
lake, was taken to Winchester, and the next morning 
sent for by Milroy and closely questioned. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 79 

"What route did you take to get into my rear?" 

"I refuse to answer." 

"How many, then, were in your party ?" 

Refusing to answer these questions, Milroy or- 
dered him put in chains. At this moment one of the 
officers present stepped forward, asking to speak. He 
was the adjutant-general, with whom the prisoner 
had exchanged horses. 

"General," said he, "let me speak a word in be- 
half of this man. I am under the impression that he 
would not be here now had he not very kindly ex- 
changed horses with me in my discomfort." This 
speech caused Milroy to revoke the order about the 
chains and to have him treated as a prisoner of war. 
He was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio. The rest of us, 
who had escaped, started back to our regiment. On 
the way we forded the Shenandoah River, the cold 
being so intense that our clothes were frozen stiff by 
the time we reached the farther bank. When we ar- 
rived at Mt. Jackson and reported to our company. 
Colonel Asher Harman at once put us under arrest, 
or as our lieutenant expressed it, "Boys, just con- 
sider yourselves under arrest." 

For the next two weeks, before the convening of 
the court martial, we lay around camp, free from all 
duties and enjoying ourselves generally. At the end 
of that time we were ordered to appear before the 
regiment at dress parade to hear the verdict. Our 
penalty was to have extra duty every other day for 
two weeks. At this point our colonel stepped for- 
ward and addressed us as follows : 

"You are good boys," he said, "and have suffered 
too much already. I relieve you of this sentence. 
Report to your company for duty." 

S. D. TiMBERLAKE. 



80 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

NEW MARKET 
ADDRESS BY JOHN N. UPSHUR, M. D. 

I have heard the authorities blamed for allowing 
boys of such tender age to be exposed to the perils 
of battle. But this is unjust. In March, '64, a mass- 
meeting of the Corps passed resolutions offering its 
services to General Lee. His response was to the ef- 
fect that if the Corps left Lexington he would be 
forced to send another regiment there; he would 
therefore prefer that it should remain, but that if its 
services should be required, it would be called on. 
This was the reason for Breckinridge's order to join 
his command at Staunton, which came the follow- 
ing May, and that led up to the participation of the 
Cadets in the Battle of New Market. * * * * 

To understand fully the condition involved in the 
arrangement of Breckenridge's line of battle and the 
position of the enemy, it is necessary to know the 
topography of the country immediately in the neigh- 
borhood of New Market. This will enable us to ap- 
preciate more fully the consummate skill with which 
our great General handled his troops on that memor- 
able day. You must bear in mind that on May 14th 
Sigel's forces had been engaged with Imboden below 
New Market, and that the latter had gradually fallen 
back, having taken some prisoners, some of which 
were seen on their way up the Valley, when we 
camped the same night. On the evening of the 14th 
Imboden had a conference with Breckinridge at 
Lacy's Springs. He was ordered to fall back slowly 
to draw Sigel after him, and precipitate an attack 
on Breckinridge's forces south of New Market, 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 81 

where he would have the advantage of selecting his 
position, as he was aware of the fact that the ene- 
my's force was nearly three times that of his own. 
Imboden subsequently informed General Breckin- 
ridge that this plan had failed, that if he intended 
to fight he would have to come forward and attack. 
Colonel J. Stoddard Johnston, Breckinridge's chief 
of staff, describes the ground as follows : 

"The turnpike passes down the Valley due north, 
through the town of New Market, which lies in a de- 
pression, where a small stream running west and 
crossing the pike at right angles cuts through the 
ridge and empties into the south fork of the Shen- 
andoah nearby, which runs north and parallel to the 
pike. From New Market, both north and south, the 
country rises with gradual slopes, then in blue-grass 
pastures and wheat-fields, intersected with stone 
walls. The Massanutten Mountain runs parallel 
with the road on the east side, at the distance of a 
mile or two, with an intervening wooded valley, in- 
terspersed with wet-weather marshes, rendered by 
the rain then falling difficult for military operations, 
which gave our right good protection. On the west 
of the pike and parallel to it and about half a mile 
distant, runs the small branch of the Shenandoah, 
then swollen with the rains, a high ridge interven- 
ing, and ascending from the Valley by a gradual 
slope to the bluff banks of the river." Colonel John- 
son further says : "Our line of battle rested with its 
right upon the pike and its left upon the summit of 
the ridge. We had but one line in two ranks, with 
no reserves. It was not long before our skirmish 
line became engaged, and our orders being to press 
the enemy, after sharp firing, Sigel's forces fell back 



82 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

to the summit of the slope about a mile to the north, 
and we occupied the town. This preliminary en- 
gagement was followed by heavy artillery firing on 
both sides, with comparatively few casualties, and 
consumed most of the forenoon. Much of the time 
it had been raining and the ground occupied by us 
being chiefly a wheat-field deep in mud, made it hard 
for our men, who had little or no rest during the 
night; and especially difficult for the handling of 
artillery." 

It was subsequent to this time that the general en- 
gagement began, and the Cadets came into action. 
About noon the battalion was marched a short dis- 
tance down the road, and then filing to the left, to 
the top of the hill, with a view to getting cover from 
observation and fire. This was about two miles to 
the south of New Market. There we halted, and 
the artillery, which had been stationed to the left on 
the crest of the hill, being unable longer to fire over 
our line of battle, and its movements hindered by the 
nature of the ground, passed to the front of us, going 
toward the pike, ten pieces under Major McLaugh- 
lin. It was these guns which subsequently did such 
execution, just to the east of the pike on our right 
wing. The two cadet guns were stationed in the 
road or just to the east of it. The battalion was 
then ordered to lie down behind a fence and load ; 
subsequently, in about half an hour, we moved for- 
ward and took the place assigned us in line of battle, 
being the center and place of honor. Echols's bri- 
gade, consisting of the Twenty-second Virginia, 
Colonel Geo. Patton; Twenty-sixth Battalion, 
Colonel Geo. M. Edgar; Twenty-third Battalion, 
Colonel Derrick, was on the right resting on the pike. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 83 

Wharton's brigade, consisting of Fifty-first, Colonel 
Frostburg; Sixty-second, Colonel Geo. H. Smith; 
Thirtieth Battalion, Colonel Clark, all Virginia 
troops, was on the left, which rested on the crest of 
the ridge, the Sixty-second Virginia being immedi- 
ately on the left of the battalion — Chapman's bat- 
tery; Jackson's battery; and two 3-inch rifled Par- 
rott guns served by Cadets under command of Cadet 
Captain Minge. These guns were served with dis- 
tinguished gallantry. Colonel Edgar says that upon 
final formation he was ordered from right to the 
extreme left ; as the line advanced, the front became 
too narrow because of the winding of the river, and 
he was forced to order a company at a time from 
front to rear, until his whole battalion was in the 
rear. When reaching the open ground, the regiment 
in front was subjected to such a galling fire that it 
was thrown into confusion, breaking through Ed- 
gar's battalion. Edgar ordered his battalion for- 
ward ; the regiment rallied behind it, and returned to 
the fight. The artillery was so arranged by Breck- 
inridge in person on the right, that as the line of 
battle advanced they should limber up, gallop to the 
front and open fire, making, as it were, a skirmish 
line of the artillery, frequently in front and to the 
right of the infantry. So exposed was the advanc- 
ing line that none of the officers were mounted ex- 
cept General Breckinridge and his staff. The gen- 
eral impression prevails that there were two lines 
of battle, and the Federal accounts say three. But 
knowing that he was outnumbered, Breckinridge, 
fearing the enemy would overlap his flanks, in order 
to extend his line of battle formed it in echelon, thus 
giving the impression where overlapping came, just 



84 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

to the front of the Cadets, that we had two lines. A 
sharp artillery duel had been in progress for some 
time, when the line of battle was ordered to advance. 
Passing up the slope of the second hill, as we reached 
the crest, the enemy had gotten our range and the 
first casualties occurred, four or five men being 
wounded by the bursting of a shell, one of them be- 
ing Captain Hill, of C Company. The line now 
pressed forward, the battalion being as beautifully 
aligned as if on dress parade. The ground here was 
an open field, level, or rising slightly to the north.. 
When half way across this field, a sharp musketry 
fire opened on our left in addition to the artillery 
fire, and a shrapnel shot exploding killed three mem- 
bers of D Company : Cabell, Jones, and Crockett. 
Just at this point the wings of the battalion became 
advanced beyond the center, causing a curve in the 
line. The Cadets marked time, the line was straight- 
ened, and dressing on the center advanced in as per- 
fect order as if on dress parade. On the northern 
border of this field and to our front, stood Bushong's 
house, beyond which was an apple orchard. The 
enemy had slowly fallen back and taken up a third 
position several hundred yards beyond this house. 
On reaching the house, the ranks divided, A and B 
Companies passing to the right of the house, and C 
and D Companies to the left ; A and B marking time 
until the other half came up and the line was re- 
formed. The fire at this point was terrific, both 
musketry and from the battery to our left, double 
shotted with canister. Passing beyond the house, 
the battalion laid down for a short time on the north- 
ern border of the orchard, when the order "forward" 
was given, and when about half way between this 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 85 

point and the guns, occurred the heaviest casualties 
of the day, the sufferers being the Cadets and the 
Sixty-second Virginia under Colonel Smith, imme- 
diately on the Cadet left. It was at this point that 
Colonel Shipp was wounded and Captain Henry A. 
Wise took command. Up to this time the Cadets 
had not fired a shot. At this juncture the Federal 
cavalry was seen about to charge the line, squadron 
front. Breckinridge, appreciating the situation, or- 
dered the guns, double shotted with canister, turned 
on them. They were routed with great loss, only a 
few reaching our lines, and they as prisoners. Whar- 
ton's men seemed to have melted away under the 
terrific fire, leaving a gap in the line and producing 
some disorder. Falling back, they reformed behind 
the Cadets. Captain Wise ordered the Cadet bat- 
talion to advance to fill this gap, and a brilliant dash 
forward, gallantly seconded by the Sixty-second 
Virginia, and the battery was captured. 

During the progress of the events just related, 
Imboden had discovered General Stahl with 2,300 
cavalry massed in squadron front close order. He 
asked permission of General Breckinridge to allow 
him to uncover his right flank for a short time, in 
an effort to turn Sigel's left, which he thought he 
could accomplish. Receiving the desired order, in 
less than fifteen minutes he had gained a position be- 
hind a low hill unobserved by the enemy, six guns 
were ordered at a gallop to the crest of the hill, un- 
limbered and fired as fast as possible into the massed 
cavalry. The effect was immediate and terrific. The 
Federal guns, captured by the Cadets a little later, 
turned their fire in that direction to silence Imboden's 
guns, an enfilading fire from which aided materially 



86 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

the Cadets and the Sixty-second in the capture of 
the Federal guns. Meantime the Thirty-fourth Mas- 
sachusetts, which was composed of seasoned veter- 
ans and which had been immediately to the left of 
the Cadets, falling back into a clump of cedars, was 
hotly engaged with Edgar's battalion, when Captain 
Wise moved the Cadets on their flank, and they 
broke and ran. Breckinridge halted his line to re- 
plenish ammunition before advancing on Rude's hill, 
about two miles below New Market, where Sigel 
made a final stand, and from which point he was 
using his guns. But he did not await the Confeder- 
ate coming, but hastily retreated across the Shen- 
andoah, burning the bridge after him — and the bat- 
tle was won. I would call especial attention to the 
timely action of the Cadets in filling the gap in the 
line to which I have referred. It was the critical 
time of the fight, and a cavalry charge at that mo- 
ment would have driven a wedge through Breckin- 
ridge's line, and we would have lost the day. So 
you can understand readily how the charge made by 
the Cadets at this critical juncture turned the tide 
of battle and crowned our arms with a success which 
meant so much. The enemy left their dead and 
many of their wounded on the field, besides several 
hundred prisoners, who fell into our hands, their 
total loss being from 800 to 1,500. Our loss 
amounted to about 400, killed and wounded, more 
than half of this having fallen on the Cadets and 
the Sixty-second. The Cadet loss being 8 killed and 
48 wounded, out of 250 engaged — a larger propor- 
tionate loss than the Light Brigade at Balaklava. 

General Breckinridge modestly telegraphed Gen- 
eral Lee the result of the battle, and the same night 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 87 

received from him his thanks and those of the Army 
of Northern Virginia. 

Colonel Otey says : ''The Cadets came over the lit- 
tle crest in as beautiful a line as I ever saw on a 
parade ground. It was here I saw a shell plow 
through them, and then I saw them close up. Down 
to the valley they went and across the branch, until 
Breckinridge ordered the line to be reformed. 
Again a column of a regiment or so of Federals com- 
menced to charge where the gap exists. But here 
the Cadets step in their way and utterly rout them. 
I speak by the card, for I was there, lying wounded 
between the two lines, and have no hesitancy in say- 
ing this saved the battle. I do not disparage these 
center boys, but they were in front before the line 
became one general line. They had had all the in- 
fantry fire and artillery fire. But they were cut up. 
They had done their part to press the whole force 
back till those in the rear echelons had joined them." 

Another witness. Major Harry Gilmor, a partici- 
pant in the battle, a man of large experience in war, 
and one not given to idle compliments, has said, in 
his "Four Years in the Saddle" : "Breckinridge has 
gained, all things considered, the most brilliant vic- 
tory of the war, achieved by small numbers against 
such fearful odds. Under his command was the 
Corps of Cadets from Lexington, under Major 
Shipp, composed of boys from fourteen to eighteen 
years of age. These boys fought like tigers, and 
earned the admiration of friends and foes. At one 
time they advanced on a battery stationed on an emi- 
nence covered with cedars, and supported by a full 
regiment of infantry. They were going up in per- 
fect line, the colors a little in advance. The battery, 



88 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

of four pieces, was pouring canister into them, and 
two color-bearers were knocked down. When within 
four hundred yards, the infantry rose and opened 
upon them, Major Shipp halted and ordered them 
to fix bayonets, which they did under a terrible fire. 
While doing this Major Shipp was knocked down 
by a piece of shell, and lay for a moment breath- 
less, but almost immediately was on his feet, and 
calling out to the Cadets, 'Follow my lead, boys!' 
started for the artillery, all of which he captured, 
together with a large part of the infantry, who said 
they felt ashamed that they had been whipped by 
boys." 

Had Imboden succeeded in carrying out his orders 
to burn the bridge over the Shenandoah, the whole 
of Sigel's command would have been captured. 
Breckinridge captured six guns, five or six hundred 
prisoners, and a large number of small arms. 

AN EYE WITNESS FROM THE OTHER SIDE 

The following is a letter from Captain Franklin 
E. Town, late captain of the Signal Corps, United 
States Army, to an old Cadet of the Virginia Mili- 
tary Institute, and being from an officer of the Fed- 
eral forces who witnessed the charge of the Cadets 
at New Market, it gives peculiar intrinsic value to 
this story of youthful bravery that will live in his- 
tory as long as the proud banner of Virginia floats 
over the Old Dominion : 

In compliance with your request that I would state 
what I observed of the action of the Cadet Battalion 
at the battle of New Market. Let me first explain, 
as briefly as possible. The Federal plan of the cam- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 89 

paign of 1864, among other operations, contem- 
plated a movement which would necessitate heavy 
detachments from the Confederate forces covering 
Richmond and Petersburg, and thus make more ef- 
fective the attack which it was intended to make in 
due time upon that army. 

Accordingly there was organized a corps, com- 
posed of about 8,000 or 10,000 men, under Major- 
General Sigel, and about the same force under 
Major-General Crook. The former to start from 
Winchester and proceed down the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, the latter to advance from West Virginia; the 
two detachments to unite at or near Staunton, Va., 
and thence proceed as one command to Lynchburg. 

I was designated as chief signal officer of the 
corps or department, called "the Department of West 
Virginia," and in that capacity I marched with the 
division of General Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley. 
In preparation for this duty I had organized a com- 
mand of some twenty-two officers and over two hun- 
dred enlisted men constituting the Signal Service 
force of the corps, and being well mounted, it formed 
a very respectable cavalry command. The foregoing 
is to explain my presence and opportunities for ob- 
servation. 

Our army was put in motion, I think, about the 
loth of May, 1864, from our camp, a little south of 
Winchester. We moved down the Valley a few 
days, and on the morning of Sunday, May 15th, we 
left our bivouac, between Woodstock and Mount 
Jackson, and continued our march along the pike. 

The Valley turnpike was then, and I presume it 
is now, a wide, smooth, macadamized road. Some 
rain on the previous day and evening had made the 



90 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

road a little muddy, so that the troops would natur- 
ally pick out the best spots to walk upon, and thus 
the column got to be a good deal "strung out." Fol- 
lowing the troops was the artillery and then a long 
wagon train. Up to this time our advance had been 
opposed only by small skirmishing parties not strong 
enough to retard our march or to give battle. 

Before noon on this day, information from the 
front was brought to General Sigel that the enemy 
was in position at New Market, about four miles 
from where the head of the column then was. 

While I did not hear the conversation which en- 
sued between General Sigel and his chief-of-staff, I 
think it was suggested to him to close up his column 
near to and fronting the enemy, and go into bivouac, 
and attack in the morning with the army rested and 
fresh ; but I did hear General Sigel say loudly : "We 
may as well fight them today as any day; we will 
advance;" and he did push on the head of his col- 
umn, all of infantry. I don't think any cavalry, and 
I am sure no artillery, was ahead of our position in 
the column. 

After pausing a few minutes in a grove by the 
side of the road, and sending off some aides and or- 
derlies with orders, during which time the infantry 
was passing us toward the front, General Sigel 
turned to me and ordered me to wait where I was 
with my command for the coming of Von Kleiser's 
battery, and escort it to the field, and then General 
Sigel rode forward to the battle. This battery was 
well to the rear of the column, and I think it was 
at the moment the nearest to the scene of action of 
any artillery in our command. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 91. 

I waited about an hour, until the battery came up, 
when I closed in my command in front and rear of 
the battery, on the road, and brought it up to the 
field. When the battery went into position and un- 
limbered, the engagement was on ; and indeed, I had 
heard the ring of musketry for some time previously. 
I presume there had been preliminary skirmishing, 
but I did not see it, for when I arrived on the field, 
the lines of our infantry were actively engaged with 
the Confederate infantry which were behind some 
light works. 

Von Kleiser's battery went into position at the left 
of our line of battle, just on the crest of a low hill. 
My escort service being ended, my men were left a 
little in the rear and below the slight ascent up 
which the battery galloped to take position, but I 
rode up with my orderly to witness the operations, 
and sat on my horse, probably twenty or thirty yards 
to the left of the battery. The battery, which as I 
recollect consisted of four brass Napoleon guns and 
two twelve-pounder howitzers, opened fire at once 
on the Confederate lines. It was a good battery 
and its commander was very proud of it. 

Being for the moment a spectator, I could see, 
and so could any one in position to see, that we were 
getting the worst of the fight. We had attacked 
with the head of the column while the rear was sev- 
eral miles from the field, and it appeared likely (as 
it really resulted) that we would be whipped before 
we got our troops on the field. 

From the front of Von Kleiser's battery the 
ground sloped down, a very gradual descent, for sev- 
eral hundred yards, to a little ravine ; an ideal ground 
for light artillery to fire over. The ground appeared 



92 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

unbroken, and it was green. It may have been a 
pasture, or more likely a field in which the crops 
were just springing up; but from where I stood it 
appeared like a smoothly-shaven lawn, and certainly 
from the muzzles of our guns to the ravine there was 
no shelter of any kind for troops advancing. 

Standing on the crest of this slope after a short 
time, I observed a line forming in the ravine at the 
foot of the hill, which seemed about like a regiment 
in extent, but so "smart" and "natty" in appearance 
as instantly to suggest our own pet "Seventh Regi- 
ment" of New York City. They appeared more like 
militia on parade than troops in campaign. We very 
soon were able to identify the command as the bat- 
talion of the Virginia Military Institute, and cer- 
tainly a more soldierly appearing corps never faced 
an enemy. 

After perfecting their alignment this young regi- 
ment advanced toward our battery. It approached 
only a short distance when it halted and turned back, 
toward the ravine. There was no apparent disor- 
der, nor did it seem that they were falling back in 
panic, but rather as if by some change of plan and 
in pursuance of orders. 

The battalion remained but a short time in the 
ravine, and again advanced. They came on steadily 
up the slope, swept as it was by the fire of these 
guns. Their line was as perfectly preserved as if 
on dress parade or in the evolutions of a review. As 
they advanced, our guns played with utmost vigor 
upon their line ; at first with shrapnel, then, as they 
came nearer, with canister, and, finally, with double 
loads of canister. As the battalion continued to ad- 
vance, our gunners loaded at the last without stop- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 93 

ping to sponge, and I think it would have been im- 
possible to eject from six guns more missiles than 
these boys faced in their wild charge up that hill. 
But still they advanced steadily, without any sign 
of faltering. I saw, here and there, a soldier drop 
from their line and lie where he fell, as his comrades 
closed up the gaps and passed on. Their pace was 
increased from a quick-step to a double time, 
and at last to the charge, as through the fire they 
came on, and up to the guns, which they surrounded 
and captured ; our artillerymen giving way when the 
bayonets, having passed the guns, were at their 
breasts. 

I watched this action from my position, but a few 
yards from the left of the battery, and was so ab- 
sorbed in the spectacle that it did not occur to me 
that I might possibly be included in the capture, un- 
til the presence of the enemy between me and the 
guns brought me to a realization of the circum- 
stances, and I did not then consider it expedient to 
remain longer where I was. 

History abounds in records of attacks and de- 
fences which stir the blood and command the ad- 
miration of all who can appreciate manhood, and 
chivalry, and heroism ; but these tales are expected 
to be written of veterans, seasoned to battle in many 
campaigns. But when one stops to think that this 
charge was made by a battalion of young lads ; boys, 
who there earned their spurs of knighthood before 
their lips were tinted with the down of a coming 
beard, the action looms up more grandly, and gives 
promise of future great achievements of men who, 
as boys, could do so well. As a military spectacle 



94 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

it was most beautiful, and as a deed of war it was 
most grand. 

It is a trifle old saying, "blood will tell," but it is 
a true one. These young lads represented the best 
families, and carried in their veins the best blood 
of the South, and while every one of them could be 
faithful to the obligations of honor, even unto death, 
not one could falter in his duty. When such young 
men fall in a cause which they believe in, whether 
it is intrinsically right or wrong, one may realize 
the sadness of cutting off a life so full of promise, 
yet all — those who approved and those who opposed 
the cause they died for — will accord to them the 
tribute of sincere respect and admiration. The man 
who dares to die for his convictions will always be 
honored, and these young men placed their motive 
above criticism by their heroic belief in it. 

It would seem to me most fitting that upon each 
anniversary of that action the Virginia Military In- 
stitute should tell to its young men the story of the 
heroism of their predecessors. Such deeds are an 
inspiration and incentive to great actions, and suc- 
cessive classes might well be pointed to such an ex- 
ample. 

I don't believe the history of war contains the rec- 
ord of a deed more chivalrous, more daring, or more 
honorable than the charge of these boys to a victory 
of which veterans might well boast. 

Very respectfully, 

Franklin E. Town, 

Late Captain Signal Corps, U. S. Army, Tallahassee, 
Fla. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 95 

ADDRESS BY HON. JOHN S. WISE ON NEW MARKET 
DAY AT V. M. I. 

Mr. Chairman and Comrades: The warmth of 
this greeting and your demand for a speech are both 
very gratifying; but I am not one of the scheduled 
orators of our festivities, and did sincerely hope that 
you would permit me to remain unnoticed in my 
humble place in the rear of the hall. I cannot claim 
a conspicuous share in the battle which we commem- 
orate. I was one of the first five wounded. Capt. 
Govan Hill, Merritt, Read, Woodlief, and myself 
were knocked out by one six-pound shell in our first 
advance. True, I was delighted at the wound, and 
for thirty-nine years have bragged about it. All of 
us, in fact, have played that morning's work for all 
it was worth. But I may as well admit to you that 
in my heart of hearts I have always known what a 
small factor I was, and that whatever glory came to 
me from it was but the reflected light from comrades 
who bore the heat and burden of the strife. 

Our battery halted on the Valley pike the day after 
New Market. General Breckinridge came by. He 
paused to compliment them. "Boys," he said, "the 
work you did yesterday will make you famous.*' 
Dave Pierce, sitting on his limber-chest, replied : 
"General, Fame's all right, but fur Gawd's sake 
where is your commissary's wagon ? We like Fame 
sandwiched with bacon and hard-tack." I fear we 
are here, like Pierce, sacrificing our love of Fame to 
other passions. 

I might call a goodly array of witnesses from my 
audience to bear witness that I was a very young and 
heedless, insignificant and trifling Cadet. I came 



96 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

here in the autumn of 1862, a pert child not sixteen 
years of age, and always believed that my father's 
object in sending me was to keep me out of the 
Army, for my oldest brother, the apple of his eye and 
the sweetest brother boy ever had, had fallen at 
Roanoke Island. It was pardonable if the brave old 
man sought thus to shield his little Benjamin. The 
thought makes his memory all the dearer to me, for 
he sacrificed all else to our cause. 

General Smith, the father of the school, was 
Superintendent. 

Scott Shipp, then twenty- four years old, was 
Commandant. Who of you has forgotten him and 
his dappled gray stallion? Who of you does not 
sweat freely at remembrance of his battalion drills? 
He looked older then than he does now. Somehow 
we feared him more. He was then the fiercest, old- 
est-looking young man, as he is today the gentlest, 
youngest-looking old man, we ever looked upon. 

Colonels Preston, "Old Ball" Williamson, "Old 
Tom," and Gilham — "Old Gil" — were full pro- 
fessors. Colonel "Git" Massie, that marvel of math- 
ematics, was an adjunct professor. 

We buried Professor Stonewall Jackson. 

The Assistants were "Tommy" Semmes, Henry 
Wise, "Bull" Robertson, "Abe" Scott, Govan Hill, 
Frank Preston, Marshall McDonald, and a host of 
others. Many of them, like Cutshaw. came here 
wounded to teach us until they were able to return 
to active duty in the field. Morrison was adjutant. 
In the summer of 1863 Cutshaw acted as Command- 
ant, while Shipp was at the front. 

Our first Cadet Captain was Dick Cunningham, 
followed in 1863 by Collie Minge, now a bloated 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 97 

cotton king; and he was succeeded in 1864 bv 
Erskine Ross, now Federal Circuit Judge in Cali'- 
fornia. 

Our Cadet Adjutant was Cary Weston— dead and 
gone to his rest— as pretty a soldier as ever formed 
the Corps for battle or dress parade. 

Who among you has forgotten "Duck" Colonna 
or Patsy Shafer or "Dad" Wyatt, the other Cadet 
captams of that day? Or Charlie Hardy— now in 
his grave— our color-bearer, fashioned like a youn^ 
Greek god ? Or quiet Woodbridge, sergeant-major, 
whose quality was never known to us until his battle 
pitch and poise revealed him as game as falcon flown 
Irom hst of king. Such were a few of our officers 

In our ranks stood the pride and flower of South- 
ern homes throughout the length and breadth of the 
Confederacy. 

I was slow to appreciate the serious obligations of 
a Cadet. In spite of loving and earnest admonitions 
for a time I resolved to do as little as was possible 
without incurring the penalty of dismissal. When 
promotions were announced in June, 1863 I received 
none, to my great mortification. Then, for the first 
time, I realized that merit was the only means of 
advancement at the V. M. I. After a decided 
change for the better and a long probation, I was one 
day made corporal, vice Vaughan, resigned It cost 
poor Frank Vaughan his life, for he was shortly 
afterwards killed in the service ; but who shall tell the 
joy it brought to me? 

At the Superintendent's office, a few days later 
General Smith looked me over, and in his epio-ram- 
matic way said: "Ah! I see you are a corpora!' 
Congratulate you. True, it is a small office But 



98 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

we must all begin at the foot of the ladder. Napoleon 
was a corporal once. I was a corporal once my- 
self!" 

Now, boys, you who knew General Smith and 
know me, also know what I felt like saying — Thank 
God I did not say it. 

But, oh, that corporal's rank ! What joy it gave 
me. Of what mean tyranny it was the offspring. 
Before me I see one, two, three of my old rat-squad 
— Eubank, Cralle, and Tutwiler. I wonder where 
Baylor is ? He was the fourth. They are all gray- 
headed men now. It has been a mystery to me 
through life why you four fellows, after you left this 
school, did not firmly, jointly, and severally, give me 
a sound thrashing for all my hectoring of you on 
yonder parade-ground. Yet, believe me, I thought 
I was doing God's service, boys, in trying to work 
up mighty ordinary raw material into fine Cadets. 
And, looking at you now, seeing what healthy and 
handsome old gentlemen you are, I believe you are 
indebted to me for much of your good looks. 

Who else is here? 

There is brave Cutshaw in the crowd. God bless 
him! When he was our Commandant he had a 
wounded leg. Afterwards he lost it altogether at 
Sailor's Creek, covering Lee's retreat to Appomat- 
tox. The Corps was in camp. I was but a private. 
The Colonel was courting a comely spinster in Lex- 
ington. Colonel, you were a very strict disciplin- 
arian. Nay, sir, you were a very trying martinet ! 
I fear you not! I speak the truth. He published 
orders confining the whole Corps to camp because 
some foolish neighboring farmers suspected us of 
partiality to their apples. We had an awful time 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 99 

removing that unjust suspicion from Cutshaw's 
mind. At last, by dint of much persuasion and 
entreaty, the order came to the guard tent relaxing 
the rigor of our limits. I was on guard. I thought 
I had seen Cutshaw leave the camp. Never doubting 
he was out visiting his dulcinea, I joyfully seized the 
order and running into the street aroused the camp 
with the shout, "Boys, turn out. The tyrant's heart 
is busted." To my horror the Commandant stepped 
forth from his tent, almost at my elbow, and ordered 
me to my quarters. I forget how our differences 
were adjusted, but satisfactorily, I know, for I have 
ever held him in the greatest affection and esteem. 
Much of the efficiency of the Corps at New Market 
was due to the faithful work of Cutshaw. 

It so happened that one day in camp I knocked 
"Big" Evans in the head with a tent peg for report- 
ing me for noise. Evans was right, but he got the 
tent peg in the jaw all right, and I got the guard tent. 
Evans was about six feet two. A fist fight between 
us to settle our dispute was impracticable, so T 
challenged him through my friend, "Goat" Chaffin. 
for a duel. He said he would fight me the duel if 
I'd write home and get my father's consent. As the 
difficulties in the way of that were obvious, the duel 
failed. I put Evans down for a coward until at 
New Market he behaved so gallantly that he was 
made first sergeant of our company in place of 
Cabell, killed. As the natural outcome of the tent- 
peg episode, Evans did not see in me very promising 
material for a sergeant when he was recommending 
the promotions of corporals, and if somebody else 
had not been good to me I would not have been a 
sergeant at all. As it was, but one sergeant was 



100 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

below me, and that was Ezekiel, now Sir Moses 
Ezekiel. Now Ezekiel is one of the greatest of 
living sculptors, but then I resented bitterly the fact 
that of all the sergeants he was the only one I ranked. 
The night after promotions were announced we all 
tramped from Lexington to Balcony Falls, the near- 
est point to which the canal boats could approach, 
after Hunter's raiders had destroyed the locks. My 
companion on that tramp was my roommate, cousin, 
and alter ego, Louis Wise, who is here today, having 
come all the way from Texas. It is the first time 
we have met since the ending of the war. "John," 
said he, in one of our confidences, "do you remember 
how you that night cursed Ezekiel as the only worse 
soldier than yourself in the Corps?" I do, indeed. 
I think we did not take ten steps that night without 
my recording some protest against the indignity. 
Not that I disliked Ezekiel. On the contrary, he 
was a good fellow and a bright fellow ; but until that 
day I had thought I was a rattling soldier; thence- 
forth I proclaimed there was but one worse soldier 
than myself in the world, and that was Ezekiel, 
Well, I have forgiven Evans. He is a judge in 
California now. And now that we have come to 
unveil Ezekiel's glorious monument, I can say with 
truth that I am reconciled at last, and that I am even 
proud to mention the fact that I ranked him. 

Who else have we here? There sits our brother, 
smiling "Old Gabe" Wharton, looking scarce a day 
older than he did the day he went in with his brigade 
on our right at New Market. What a steady fighting 
man he was. How he and his veterans inspired us ! 
How generous, too, they were in praising us unduly 
when our work was done. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 101 

And here is Henry Wise, beloved of all of us. 
The same old Henry who led the Corps so gallantly 
when Shipp went down. The bravest and the ten- 
derest, the loving, and the daring. Not since Thack- 
eray gave us Dobbin has the world had another one 
like him. As he and Louis and I "clomb the hill 
together" last evening, from the depot to the town, 
just as we three mounted it in 1863, upon our return 
from Covington, after Averell's raid, imagine, if you 
can, the tender retrospect, the gratitude we felt that 
we had been spared through all these years to meet 
here once again. It made us boys again. And what 
think you we talked about in that sweet and solemn 
hour? "Louis," said I, "is not that orchard on 
yonder hill the one we robbed so often?" With his 
dim eyes peering uncertainly, at last the gleam of 
recognition came, and Louis, vestryman of St. 
James' Episcopal Church, Abilene, Texas, shame- 
facedly confessed beneath his breath, "I'm afraid, 
John, that it is." Henry affected a certain air of 
"I am holier than thou" until we reminded him of 
that night before New Market when he chided us for 
swearing and for chicken-stealing on the eve of 
battle, and then, himself, next day, not only forgot 
himself and "swore like our army in Flanders," in 
the thick of the fight, but, when it was over, shared 
with us, without a protest, the cold remnants of our 
stolen fowl. 

Well, boys, may the Lord forgive us all our sins. 
And I believe He will. 

Lo! There is little "General" Randolph in the 
throng. How well I remember the day he reported. 
He was the pet and courier of Stonewall Jackson ! 
So young and brave that even Stonewall's heart was 



102 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

softened and sought to have him spared, by sending 
him here, to be our pet, for the love we bore his great 
commander. 

Then came New Market, and the little General, 
in the forefront of the fight, fell with a ghastly 
wound, recovery from which was almost a miracle. 
Snatched from the very jaws of death, he recovered 
and dedicated his life to God, just as Stonewall 
would have had him do. 

Oh ! reverend man of God, whom it is a privilege 
to claim as comrade, who could more appropriately 
ask His blessing upon us? Who else would be so 
near to those for whom he prays ? 

And here is Fred Claybrook, second lieutenant of 
"D" Company, likewise a Christian minister. Verily, 
the lessons of the V. M. I, were not so fruitless of 
good results after all. May all of us be saved by 
these vicarious atonements. 

Before me, too, I see a grave and reverend Judge. 
Not much of him physically, it is true, but in Norfolk 
they call him "Multum in parvo." What more 
could be expected from "Mouse" Martin, the tiny 
marker on the colors? 

And here is private Edmund Berkeley, of D Com- 
pany, now railroad magnate traveling in his private 
car. How dare he come here putting on such airs 
in the presence of his superiors? It makes quiet 
Capt. Patsy Shafer, also present, hang his modest 
head in shame. 

There, side by side, sit Frank Lee Smith, of Alex- 
andria, and Preston Cocke, of Richmond, and Dick 
Tunstall, of Norfolk. High and mighty lawyers 
now are they; but to us only Cadets once more, of 
the old war Corps. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 103 

And here is Hugh Fry, looking even smaller than 
he did that day at New Market, when he looked like 
the little son of the big Dutch prisoner he came lead- 
ing back. And "Big" Wood, of North Carolina, 
our color corporal, who helped to buck me on the 
day that I reported. And "Cooney" Ricketts with- 
out one trace of the "peach-blow" cheeks that set the 
girls wild about him. 

So I might go on indefinitely, for, of the seventy- 
odd survivors before me, each has his own story, 
each his interesting individuality for me. 

O Comrades of my boyhood's happy days — Boys ! 
Softly I call the name, because my swelling heart 
scarce leaves me utterance. We are standing 
together once more, boys. Aye, we have come with 
hearts brimming with such love and such honor as 
children render to a mother whose wealth of care and 
wisdom has flowed to them as ungrudgingly and 
with the same sustenance as mother's milk. We 
yield our Alma Mater that loyalty as unreservedly 
as if by the constraining power of Nature. For here 
in her loving charge were passed our happiest days 
of boyhood together in an intimacy as close as that 
of brothers under the paternal roof. To her we owe 
this tribute, in common gratitude, even in the joyous 
hour of our heart-satisfying reunion. Let it go 
forth to our credit as well as hers, as part of our pro- 
ceedings. Let the world see that in our heart of 
hearts she is enshrined as a Mother, ever fresh and 
fair. 

As for our old selves, there is little more to add. 
If ever there were boyish bickerings among us, this 
day at least all such are swallowed up and forgotten. 



ip4 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Our hearts are beating in perfect unison, our eyes 
sparkling with friendship and contentment at 
thought of this, perhaps our last, parade. 

So Hail, Brethren, and Farewell ! 

Yet ere I close, unworthy as I am, may I not ask 
this benediction ? 

May the good God, under whose guidance and 
protection we have passed through the dangers of 
our youth, the trials of our manhood, and have 
entered on the decline of age, still vouchsafe to you 
His mercy and hold you in blessed keeping. May 
He crown your declining years with peace and rest, 
in contrast with that opening of war and toil. May 
you be blessed with faith in Him, with health and 
happy homes and loving wives and children, and 
troops of friends, for many years. May death, when 
it comes, as it must, find you ready in consciousness 
of honorable life. And may the reviving thought of 
that glorious day of our boyhood, when, cheerfully 
and unconsciously, we did the work for which we 
are this day praised, linger fresh and green and com- 
forting in our memories to the last gasp of life. And 
when we are gone, may our beloved Mother School 
continue on her proud career, cherishing our humble 
names as those of loyal sons. May the story of our 
little day be an inspiration to the youth of future 
times to seek the proud title of Cadet in the Virginia 
Military Institute. 

Note. — One of the very young Cadets left behind 
when the others went to New Market, to guard the 
Institute, said that many of them wept bitterly at the 
"disgrace" of not being allowed to "fight for their 
country." 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 105 

FROM ''a boy's experiences IN THE CIVIL WAR, 
1860-1865." 

When the Virginia Military Institute was burned 
after the battle of New Market where the Cadets lost 
a number who were killed and where many were 
wounded, the corps was sent to Richmond. Every 
Richmond boy had a great ambition to go to the 
Institute, at that time regarded as the West Point 
of the South. The Cadets were a part of the Con- 
federate Army and every graduate was given an 
'officer's commission in the Army. Incidents were 
constantly occurring to keep alive and active this 
spirit to become a cadet — boys have little fear of 
bullets, they enjoy the excitement of active army 
life and even death and wounds appeal to them as 
making heroes. After the battle of New Market 
one of the Cadets, a son of Dr. Cabell, of Richmond, 
who was killed in that battle, was brought to Rich- 
mond for burial and his funeral took place from his 
father's home on Franklin street where he lived, a 
neighbor of General Lee. I remember as the re- 
mains after the service were borne down the front 
steps and through the iron front gate the intense awe 
and respect in the face of the young men assem- 
bled on the pavement around the entrance to the 
open space in front of the house. It was here I be- 
lieve I first formed the determination to be a Cadet, 
and strange to say when I first entered the Cadet 
ranks, the drill master assigned to our squad was 
Bob Cabell, a brother of the Cadet whose funeral 
I had attended that day. 

The Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute 
were in number about five or six hundred, were from 



106 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

all over the South and ranged in age from about 
sixteen years to about twenty-four or five. I en- 
tered the Institute shortly before the evacuation of 
Richmond and enjoyed the dictinction, as I have 
stated, of being the youngest Cadet in the corps. 
When the Cadets first came to Richmond, they 
marched with singularly soldier-like precision and 
carriage out Grace street to the Fair grounds, where 
they were for a time quartered. The uniforms of 
the boys, as also their food, began to partake of the 
Confederate soldier variety, and it was pathetic to 
see some of these boys marching in ranks through 
Richmond to their quarters with pants torn or worn 
out at the bottom and variegated in outfit, some with 
cadet jackets and plain pants, others with cadet 
pants and plain jackets. The Richmond Almshouse 
was assigned to the Cadets for their quarters. Life 
there would have been ordinarily recognized as sin- 
gularly trying ; to the young men in the corps it was 
a perpetual joy, alloyed alone by the obligation to 
attend lectures. The rooms that were a delight to 
them were simply unmentionable. In my room, 
about twelve feet wide and twenty-four feet long, 
were sixteen Cadets, who slept and studied there. 
In the daytime the mattresses were piled each on 
top of the other in a single corner of the room — at 
nighttime they were arranged side by side with head 
against the wall. One long table occupied the center 
of the room. It was supposed to be a study-table 
and was occupied at night by a favored one to sleep 
upon. In the daytime it was never occupied, except 
by the boys lounging upon it in lieu of chairs, smok- 
ing their pipes and gossiping. Pure atmosphere 
day or night in that room was not needed by those 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 107 / 

young men with their wonderful vitality. At night- * 
time the door was invariably kept closed by any who 
were up playing cards or gossiping after the retiring 
hour to shut out from view the officer of the guard, 
who whenever he wished to investigate for such 
breaches of discipline always discreetly and consid- 
erately knocked before entering, opening the door 
to find everything in perfect order. Each room had 
a petty officer, usually a corporal, a senior, who was 
supposed to be responsible for the good order and 
cleanliness of the room. One of the duties of this 
senior was to initiate by "bucking" any new Cadet 
introduced into his room. This "bucking," pecu- 
liar to the Institute, consisted in taking the new- 
comer's right hand, carrying it behind his back, 
twisting it around until he was compelled thereby 
to bend over, when he would be struck by the senior 
with a bayonet scabbard on his posterior once for 
each letter in his name, and in the event he was with- 
out a middle name he was given the right to select 
one, and upon failure to do so was given the name 
Constantinople for its many letters. Thereupon he 
was dubbed a "rat," which name he bore for one 
year. He was liable to have trouble for the whole 
first year and might have to take another bucking 
or stand up to a fight, which usually was brought 
about in a formal way and was a great affair. The 
corporal of our room was a mild-mannered, gentle- 
manly fellow named Bayard, of Georgia, whose 
father was, I believe, in the Confederate Congress 
from that State. After bucking me and permitting 
me to choose Asa for my middle name he dubbed 
me "mouse," and stated to me that if any one at- 
tempted to give me any trouble to let him know. 



108 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

No trouble was there though for me — it was one 
constant stretch of deHghtful experiences. The as- 
sociation with older boys and men, who treated me 
not simply as an equal but from my youth and boy- 
ishness showed me every favor, rendered my life one 
of joyous ease. I was informed by the Cadet whose 
name immediately preceded mine in roll call of my 
company that any time I wanted to get off to let him 
know and he would answer twice, once for himself, 
once for me. I was introduced by a friendly Cadet 
to the apothecary's assistant, who turned an honest 
dollar in selling surreptitiously to the boys ginger 
cakes and pies at a thousand per cent, profit. I was 
recommended to old "Judge," the negro head cook 
and steward, who, black as coal, was with the boys 
the most popular person in the corps; but for his 
favors, which usually comprised an extra allowance 
of bread, expected a suitable remembrance. A room 
I have here described could furnish no more than 
living quarters for the number occupying it, and 
how any studying could be done at night by two 
dull tallow candles, the only lights, was inexplicable. 
Toilets were performed in a general wash-room, ad- 
joining a larger room, where all trunks were kept, 
and these two rooms were on the same stoop or porch 
and a little apart from the living-rooms that all ad- 
joined. If meagre fare contributed to good health, 
the boys were entitled to the extraordinary health 
they possessed with such surroundings. A typical 
breakfast was "growley," bread and Confederate 
coffee. Sometimes sorghum molasses took the place 
of "growley." This latter dish was quite watery, 
being a hash of beef, potatoes, and onions. A typi- 
cal dinner was boiled Irish potatoes, boiled corned 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 109 

beef and bread. Meals were served in the large din- 
ing-room in the basement at plain pine tables with 
no covering, each table seating about one dozen. At 
the head of the table stood the large dish of "grow- 
ley" or the corn-beef, and at each Cadet's plate was 
his half loaf of bread. It required practice and ex- 
pertness to slide one's tin plate over the table to the 
"growley" dish for a helping, and some art to secure 
at long distance the favorable disposition of the 
Cadet sitting at the head to whom fell the delightful 
emolument of apportioning the "growley." The 
half a loaf of bread was where old "Judge" came in, 
for you always felt as if you wanted more. Each 
Cadet was furnished his own two-pronged fork and 
a good large table knife, both of the rough, bone- 
handled variety, colored a dark brown. This fare 
with undue discipline would have been unbearable, 
but with the free and independent life led there it 
was only a pleasing passing incident in the daily 
routine of Cadet life constantly filled with ever re- 
curring incidents to surprise, interest, and exhila- 
rate, and no grumbling ever took place, only high 
spirits and the fullest animal enjoyment in the flush 
of health. 

A bell rang for classes or lectures and the class- 
rooms were a v/onder. The classes were so large 
that many would have to stand up grouped together, 
usually near the door. Before the lecture was fin- 
ished the groups would be greatly thinned out, for 
from time to time while the professor was absorbed 
in his work or inspecting the black-boards the door 
would softly open and out would slip some mem- 
ber of the group, who would softly close the door 
and walk past the windows of the class-room as 



110 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

naturally as if he were on a mission, the only evi- 
dence of irregularity being the exceedingly expert 
quick way with which he vanished through the door. 
Another result of the large classes was the effort to 
test the students by requiring several to recite at 
once, as one at a time would never have reached 
around. This was supposed to be accomplished by 
means of the blackboard. At each of the five or six 
boards was stationed one cadet and the same test 
was furnished to all at once. Out of the entire num- 
ber at work usually at least one knew his task well. 
The others made a show of great industry and with 
much waste of chalk and many changes and correc- 
tions and with a sharp eye on his neighbor's work 
he managed to construct a passable performance. 
The last exhibit I saw in the geography class was a 
curiously drawn map in chalk outlining South 
America. It was not difficult to identify the copies 
of various grades and conditions, nor the original 
from which made. I suppose the professor was 
charitable in not holding his students to a too strict 
accountability. I wonder, indeed, how they could 
do any studying with such conditions or surround- 
ings, instead of showing the general faithfulness 
that they did to their work. 

As I have stated, a fight was a very formal affair; 
while usually originating in quite an unmentionable 
way it was arranged to take place with a full regard 
to the proprieties. One of the sixteen men in my 
room was a boy named Lovenstein, from Richmond. 
He was a new Cadet like myself and was therefore 
liable to have trouble. He had declined to submit 
to some indignity required of him by an older Cadet 
and he was thereupon challenged to fight. This lat- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 111 

ter he had no way of escaping. It was passed around 
during the day that there was to be a fight in so 
and so's room that night. I got there in company 
with the men from our room about half after eight 
o'clock, the hour these affairs usually occurred. The 
room was packed to suffocation, standing around 
an improvised ring. The air was filled with tobacco 
smoke but there was absolutely no talking or noise. 
In the ring in the center of the room the two fight- 
ers were facing each other. My sympathies were 
with Lovenstein, because he came from our room. 
Lovenstein stood up manfully to his task, with the 
creditable result that secured for him the regard of 
the other inmates of our room, and it soon became 
understood that he was to be protected thereafter 
and that no further trouble was to be put up for 
him. 

The gala performance of the day was at dress pa- 
rade. This occurred at five in the afternoon. The 
large plaza fronting the full width of the Almshouse 
furnished a fine parade-ground. Colonel Shipp, a 
portly, dignified, impressive man, who at the time 
of my present writing is still at the Institution, now 
as Superintendent, was then the Commandant. His 
adjutant was named Woodbridge, and these two, 
with the well-drilled corps, as a whole furnished the 
three striking incidents of the parade. The awk- 
ward squads, consisting of new Cadets, were put 
through simple evolutions at the same hour off from 
the parade-ground at each end of the building. Vis- 
itors in large numbers assembled to watch each drill 
of the corps. At the close the Cadets were at liberty 
to stroll off in the neighborhood for an hour's re- 
creation, and that was liberally availed of. Soldierly 



112 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

dignity was not invariably preserved in these strolls. 
Pent-up youthful vitality freed from restraint show- 
ed itself in rough play, and upon one occasion an 
older companion of mine, in the exuberance of his 
spirits, lifted me to his shoulders and completed his 
walk, bearing me with him in this position until his 
return to the restraining formalities of the Institute 
grounds. One's introduction to the Institute was in 
strict military discipline; the details of name, age, 
residence and the taking of the oath of allegiance to 
the State and to the Confederacy were followed by 
a written requisition for a blanket, mattress, knife 
and fork, etc., and an assignment to a room and com- 
pany. Mine was B Company. A sedate and digni- 
fied-looking Cadet named Ross was captain ; a good, 
old-fashioned, friendly fellow named Royston was 
orderly sergeant. My introduction to the corporal 
of my room was through an army officer, Captain 
Shriver. who had recently graduated and who ac- 
companied me and my father on my entrance into 
the Institute. 

General Smith, the Superintendent, was only seen 
by the Cadets in his private office at the far end of 
the building. The only visit I made to him was quite 
an event in my life. Usually visits to the Superin- 
tendent were quite serious affairs, furnishing checks 
to exuberant spirits, often grave in consequences. 
Therefore a notification that your presence was de- 
sired by the Superintendent was calculated to set 
the heart going more rapidly and to stir the mem- 
ory for some breach that must have been discov- 
ered. The summons to me one day just as I was 
about to attend my French lecture was as unattrac- 
tive as attending the lecture. But when I reached 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 113 

the Superintendent's room I found there three Con- 
federate soldiers, constituents of my father's and 
friends of my family, who had come out to see me 
and had secured permission for me to accompany 
them back to Richmond to spend the day. An event 
of the day was the taking of a photograph in a 
group. This, with a good supply of peanuts and a 
visit to the theatre, furnished quite a full day for 
us four — three seedy and friendly Confederate sol- 
diers and a youthful Cadet just fourteen years old. 
Their request to General Smith to allow me to ac- 
company them on their lark had evidently appeared 
so unique that I was struck with the degree of pleas- 
ure it seemed to afford him and my soldier friends. 
The meagre fare made me yearn greatly to par- 
ticipate of the food that I knew was being enjoyed 
at my home, and I was not slow in availing myself 
of any temporary leave I could obtain. One of these 
occasions took place just shortly before the evacua- 
tion of Richmond, and upon my return to the Insti- 
tute T was greeted by an almost empty building. I 
found the Corps had been called out the night before 
to go to the front, leaving me as a younger Cadet 
with a number of others as a detail to guard the 
Institute. For the short time we were in charge 
there were of course no lectures and little discipline, 
each one could go and come as he chose, with the 
result that my visits to my home board were more 
interesting, and in my saunters along the streets I 
began to notice on the Saturday prior to the evacua- 
tion premonitions of coming trouble. Great activ- 
ity was suddenly manifested through the various 
Confederate Government departments. The Cadets 
at the Institute were extended permission to re- 



114 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

moye their trunks. This was availed of on Satur- 
day and also on Sunday, until the Institute was prac- 
tically abandoned by every one there ; but was filled 
with the furniture and the trunks of all the absent 
Cadets, except of those few who had friends to take 
charge of them. Besides my own trunk I was able 
to care for that of another room-mate and sent it to 
him by express to his home some weeks later. 

On Sunday morning, the 2d of April, 1865, it 
was apparent to any one that the city was to be aban- 
doned by the Confederate troops. Great piles of 
official documents and papers of all sorts were 
brought out from the departments, piled up in the 
center of the streets in separate piles at short dis- 
tances apart and then set on fire to be destroyed. 
Some few burned entirely, others only smouldered 
and others again failed to burn at all. The result 
seemed to depend on the quality of the paper and the 
density of the bundles. From one pile I took out a 
roll of Confederate bonds with all coupons attached 
and from another pile a bundle of official papers of 
various sorts. On Monday morning, the 3d of 
April, I saw going up Marshall street about day- 
light two Confederate cavalrymen on foot, who were 
the very last of the Confederate soldiers to leave 
Richmond. On the same morning about eleven 
o'clock I saw the first Union soldier to enter Rich- 
mond. He was also a cavalryman, riding up Broad 
street, and was near Tenth street when I saw him, 
and was surrounded and followed by a howling, 
frantic mob of about five hundred negro boys, there 
being no other person except myself that I could 
see on the street in the vicinity. Between these two 
periods, the going of the last Confederates and the 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 115 

coming- of the first Union soldier, stirring scenes 
were being elsewhere enacted. I had first gone out 
to the Institute to see how matters stood there and 
I found it was in possession of a horde of men, wo- 
men and children from all the neighborhood around, 
who had broken open the building and were carry- 
ing away everything movable — furniture, cadets' 
trunks, books, guns and swords — indeed, their van- 
dalism spared nothing. I went to my room and was 
able to secure my blankets and my knife and fork and 
my books. It was intensely distressing to observe 
the property of the Cadets, who were off in the dis- 
charge of their duty, boldly appropriated and car- 
ried off before my eyes by these multitudinous free- 
booters, who preyed upon it as if it was so much pub- 
lic spoils free to all who chose to help themselves. 

LIEUTENANT CARTER BERKELEY'S DESCRIPTION OF 
BATTLE OF NEW MARKET 

[Lieut. Carter Berkeley was a member of the Sons 
of Liberty, sergeant in Imboden's battery, member of 
the Clarke Cavalry (Company D), Sixth Virginia, 
and lieutenant in McCIanahan's Horse Artillery.] 

Imboden's brigade and the Cadets bore the brunt 
of that battle, and their loss was greater than the 
combined loss of all the other commands on our side 
that were engaged in the fight. 

Mr. John S. Wise, in giving an account of the 
part the Cadets took in the battle, does not mention 
either that Imboden's brigade or McCIanahan's 
Horse Artillery, which was attached to that brigade, 
was actually engaged all day. 



116 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

In winding up, Mr. Wise says : "The broken col- 
umns of the enemy could be seen hurrying over the 
hills and down the pike toward Mount Jackson, hotly 
pursued by our infantry and cavalry." The fact is 
that General Breckinridge had no cavalry at hand at 
that time, and used the artillery to drive the enemy 
off Rood's Hill, where they had attempted to rally. 
I have a letter from Col. Stoddard Johnston, General 
Breckinridge's chief of staff, who says that the Gen- 
eral had sent all his cavalry around to the right to 
get in the rear of the enemy on the pike below Mount 
Jackson, and consequently had to use his artillery in- 
stead. 

I commanded a section of McClanahan's battery, 
and with it, under General Breckinridge's immediate 
command, opened the fight early in the morning on 
the left of the village, and disabled the first gun that 
came out to reply to us just beyond the village on the 
pike. 

"After firing from that position for some time the 
General ordered me to take a position, which he 
pointed out, on the other side of the pike. As we 
crossed the road in obedience to his order we for the 
first time saw the Cadets. They were standing near 
some wagons, and, as we thought, acting as a rear- 
guard. Among them were several Staunton boys, 
whose names I will give as nearly as I can remem- 
ber — Carter H. Harrison, Alex. Stuart, John Stuart, 
Travis Phillips, Carrington Taylor and Jacob Im- 
boden. We also had some Staunton boys in McClan- 
ahan's battery — Lieut. H. H. Fultz, Orderly Sergeant 
Joe Meriken, Sergt. James W. Blackburn. E. C. Kin- 
ney, F. T. Brooke, A. S. Berkeley, Silas Trayer, 
Sandy Calvert, John Garber, John Peer, Henry Car- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 117 

ter, Dick Ryan and J. McC. Woodward are all that 
I can remember at this time. 

Some of these boys were between the ages of six- 
teen and eighteen, and recognizing their old friends 
and schoolmates among the Cadets, began to jeer 
and guy them as soldiers generally did in passing 
each other, but of course all in a friendly way, hal- 
loaing at them "Bomb-proof!" "Wagon dogs!" 
"Get out of them good clothes!" The Cadets, not 
being accustomed to that sort of thing, became very 
indignant, and would have resented it if we had 
stayed with them long enough for it. 

We soon arrived at our position, and from it we 
could see the whole field. Before we could get un- 
limbered for action, a Yankee battery opened vigor- 
ously on us from across a ravine in our front, and 
we replied to them as soon as we got in form. 

Over on my left I could see our men forming in 
line to charge, and, to my surprise, I saw the Cadets 
coming into the line of battle, the Sixty-second Vir- 
ginia, of Imboden's brigade, commanded by Colonel 
Smith (an old Cadet), on the right, with Echols's 
brigade on their left. I called to my boys : "Look 
yonder at your bomb-proof friends, how beautifully 
they are going into action; let's help them," and I 
gave the command to limber up and move farther to 
the front, so that we could very nearly enfilade the 
enemy's battery in front of our centre. 

"Soon the deadly work began, and our boys would 
cheer every time our shells would strike in the Yan- 
kee line. It was grand to see how beautifully and 
steadily the young heroes moved to their work; a 
short time before tender-hearted youths, now in- 
spired by the Rebel yell of the old veterans on either 



118 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

side of them to the glory of battle, they bared their 
breasts to the deadly storm, as iron-hearted as the 
men who followed Lewis Armistead over the stone 
wall on Cemetery Hill, 

Just at this time one of the most terrible storms I 
ever witnessed arose. You could hardly distinguish 
the loud clap of thunder from the roar of over thirty 
pieces of artillery which were then in action. A 
dark and angry cloud hung over the combatants, the 
forked lightning flashed through the blackness as if 
heaven were crying out against the horrid work 
which was going on. The cloud was so dark that as 
our devoted men came closer to the enemy's line the 
blaze that belched from the guns flashed in their 
faces. 

The two lines had now gotten so close to each 
other that I gave the command to cease firing, and 
we all stood with breathless silence anxiously wait- 
ing for the result of the charge. Then when we 
heard the triumphant yell of victory as our line of 
battle went over the enemy's guns and saw their sup- 
port breaking in confusion our joy knew no bounds. 
Our boys fell on the ground, kicked up their heels 
and yelled with perfect delight. The victory was 
won. But, oh, at such a cost ! "The Bourbon blood, 
how it flowed !" The Cadets had left in their rear, 
weltering in their blood, 56 killed and wounded, out 
of 250 in action; the Sixty-second, 245 out of 550. 
One company (Woodson's) lost 55 out of 60. Just 
then the rain began to pour down in such torrents 
that our advance was temporarily stopped, which 
gave the retreating enemy a better chance to escape. 

In a few minutes a courier dashed up and told me 
that General Breckinridge said that I was to bring 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 119 

my guns to the pike and report to him at once. I 
followed the courier through our line, and found the 
General sitting on a splendid Kentucky horse, look- 
ing like the very god of war, and as I touched my hat 
to him he said : "Lieutenant, are your horses fresh 
and strong?" I replied : "Yes, sir." He said : "I 
have no cavalry, unfortunately. I sent it all with 
General Imboden to get in the rear of the enemy 
on the pike beyond Mount Jackson. I fear they are 
taking advantage of our stop to make a stand on 
Rood's Hill." 

The rain had decreased considerably in volume 
and we could see the enemy on either side of the 
road, on the hill which was, I think, about a mile off. 
Just about that time one of their guns opened on us. 
The General said: "Go at once; charge down the 
pike and drive them off the hill. I will follow up 
with the infantry as rapidly as possible." I rode at 
once to the pike, where I had left my guns, and 
found that Lieutenant Collett had joined them with 
another section of our battery. 

We had six guns, but two of them had been 
knocked out in the fight the evening before. Our 
boys were highly elated at being selected to do a 
thing so daring and so unusual, and as soon as I gave 
the order we put out at a run, every man yelling as 
loud as he could. The enemy's battery turned the 
guns on us as soon as they saw us coming, but we 
were moving so rapidly toward them that the shells 
passed over our heads. It looked as if we were go- 
ing into the very jaws of death, for the enemy 
seemed, as we got nearer to them, to be in consid- 
erable force on the hill. The road made a slight dip 
just before it began to ascend, and for a moment 



120 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

we were out of sight of the enemy. I anxiously 
rode ahead to see what we would run up against, 
and to my delight as I ascended the hill I saw the 
battery limbering up and the whole line breaking in 
confusion. 

The boldness and strangeness of the movement 
demoralized them. I could see the long bottom be- 
fore us filled with fugitives. I have seen a state- 
ment from one of the enemy's artillery officers that 
they fired back at us as they retreated, and I remem- 
ber that they did fire several shots which passed over 
our heads. A squadron of cavalry on our left started 
toward us, and I looked back anxiously for our in- 
fantry support, but a shot or two well aimed sick- 
ened them and they joined their defeated comrades. 

Now we had everything our own way ; the poor, 
panic-stricken wretches were flying before us in easy 
range of our guns and relentlessly we poured the 
shot and shell into them. It was awful; it seemed 
cruel, but, as Sherman said, "War is hell," the truth 
of which saying they were experiencing. We had 
left all our tender feeling behind on the field covered 
with our dead and dying comrades. 

If Imboden could have gotten in their rear not a 
man would have escaped, but high water prevented 
it 

We continued our deadly fire on them until they 
crossed the bridge and burned it behind them. We 
put in our deadliest shots as they were packing like 
frightened cattle across the bridge. This ended the 
fight on Sunday. Imboden's brigade alone had been 
fighting them all day Saturday and had captured 
nearly an entire regiment of cavalry that had crossed 
Luray Gap to get in our rear. Imboden knew they 




SIR MOSES EZEKIEL. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 120 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 121 

were coming and had some men hid in the moun- 
tain, who got in their rear as soon as they passed 
at the top, beating them at their own game. 

Soon after the fight I met young Sandy Stuart, 
one of the Cadets. I remember well what a gallant- 
looking fellow he was. He was wringing wet and 
his hands and face were black with powder. They 
had muzzle loaders then and the men had to bite 
the cartridges before putting them in the gun. He 
said, "Lieutenant, the blot on the Institute has been 
wiped out today by the best blood of Virginia." I 
replied, "Sandy, I never knew that there was a blot 
on the Institute." "Yes," he said, "your boys tried 
to put a stigma on us this morning, calling us bomb- 
proof and wagon dogs." "Oh," I replied, "my boys 
were only joking; they were all proud of you." 

I write this article in justice to Imboden's brigade 
and McClanahan's battery, that have seldom been 
mentioned in accounts that I have seen of the battle. 
Imboden's brigade was composed of the Sixty-sec- 
ond Virginia Mounted Infantry, commanded by Col. 
George H. Smith; Eighteenth Virginia Cavalry, 
commanded by Col. George W. Imboden, and the 
Twenty-third Virginia Cavalry, commanded by Col. 
Robert White; McNeil's Rangers, and McClana- 
han's Horse Artillery. 

Dr. Carter Berkeley states that "General Breck- 
inridge had as a reserve force at New Market the 
Cadets and a regiment of old men. Major Semple, 
a staff officer, reported to him that there were not 
enough veterans to cover the Yankee line. The 
Cadets had sent him a committee, asking to be al- 
lowed to go in the battle, but the General had de- 



122 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

cided to hold them in reserve or as a rear-guard. 
When he was told that there was a gap in the line 
pf battle that must be filled, he said, 'Then put in 
the boys, and may God forgive me!' bowing his 
head on his horse's neck as he spoke. I got this from 
Major Semple himself." 

Note. — General Breckinridge, then Confederate 
Secretary of War, told me in Richmond in January, 
1865, that the charge of the Cadets at New Market 
was the most splendid sight which he had ever wit- 
nessed. He said that they got into the charge with- 
out his knowing it; that he had tried to keep them 
out of harm's way. He heard the army cheering, 
looked in that direction and saw the Virginia Mili- 
tary Institute Battalion, which he knew at once by 
the songs of the men and their trim appearance, 
sweeping across the field as if it was on dress parade, 
and it was then too late to save it. 

He said it almost broke his heart to see the boys 
dropping and the gaps torn in their line by the ter- 
rible fire ; but that the way they closed up and went 
up to the Yankee guns was the most glorious thing 
ever seen in war. The Virginia Military Institute 
Battalion was not composed entirely of Virginians, 
but included boys from almost every Southern State. 

H. H. H. 

Another instance that touches the high-water 
mark is that of two of the Virginia Cadets at the 
Battle of New Market. On the battlefield Lieut. 
Carter Berkeley was passing when he was attracted 
by the cries of a mere boy, who said, "Sir, do get me 
a doctor; my friend is wounded!" Lieutenant Berke- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 123 

ley, drawing near, saw a young fellow seated, with 
his companion's head on his breast. Drawing nearer, 
he found two boys, and the one who had been call- 
ing him for his friend was grievously wounded him- 
self, but so absorbed was he in looking after his 
companion that he had not even remarked that he 
was wounded. Lieutenant Berkeley said, "My poor 
boy, your friend is dead, but I will get a doctor for 
you." A Virginian. 

It seems hardly necessary to further mention the 
Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, their hero- 
ism has been so widely exploited. The letter I sub- 
join was written immediately after the war, from 
Staunton, Va., to a friend in Baltimore ; and I shall 
give, besides, some accounts of boys who fought the 
battle mentioned. 

"Staunton, Va., May loth, 1866. 

"Today Captain Shipp, from the Institute, passed 
through with a squad on his way to Port Republic to 
bring the bodies of the seven Cadets who died in the 
battle of the 15th of May, in which General Breck- 
inridge defeated Sigel. None of the two hundred 
and fifty Cadets were over sixteen, many under four- 
teen. P^ourteen of them were wounded, eight killed. 

"Many not as large as Henry (eleven years old). 
As their comrades fell they did not waver, but closed 
up at the word of command just as if on parade. 
All honor to the little heroes ! They will remain in 
Staunton Saturday and Sunday. We shall strew their 
bier with flowers, but greatest honor of all, General 
Lee will attend their interment and doubtless drop a 
tear upon the sacred spot where they are laid. The 



124 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Cadets are going to erect a monument to them at the 
Institute. They will be interred the fifteenth, the 
anniversary of the day alike fatal to them and their 
enemies, for they were more than victorious, de- 
feating Sigel, who had 3,500 men, and capturing his 
guns. It is said that one of them, a son of Mr. 
Seddon (Secretary of War of the Confederate 
States), was so young that he was unable to carry 
his gun and that one of his father's servants car- 
ried it for him on the march. Hugh Fry, one of the 
boys, captured a great big German officer, who re- 
fused to surrender his sword to such a child, until 
the boy threatened to run him through with his 
bayonet. It is in connection with this battle that 
Mr. Lincoln is said to have made his famous re- 
mark, 'How could you expect that Dutchman 
[Sigel] to win a battle." 



SIR MOSES EZEKIEL, SCULPTOR^ ROME 

Moses Ezekiel was born in Richmond in 1847. 
He entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1862 
and was in the Battle of New Market with the corps 
of Cadets, a sergeant in Company C. He, with a 
number of other now prominent men, was a mem- 
ber of the third class and they all were in the battle 
together: Thos. G. Hayes, Mayor of Baltimore, 
1900-1904; Dr. Botting Barton, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University; Hon. John A. Wise, of Virginia, 
now a distinguished lawyer of New York, who ran 
for Governor of Virginia, but was defeated by Gen. 
Fitz Hugh Lee; Thos. R. Clendinen, a prominent 
lawyer of Baltimore, and many others. After the 



r ^^ 



3% <:^^. 




ALEXANDER H. H. STUART, JR. 

OPPOStTE PAGE 124 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 125 

war Ezekiel returned to the V. M. L, and graduated 
in 1866. He then went to Rome to study art, and 
as a sculptor became famous. He was knighted by 
the King of Italy, and made a chevalier of the Le- 
gion of Honor. Several of his works adorn the 
Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington; and at the 
Peabody Institute, in Baltimore, there is an exquis- 
ite bust of 'The Christ," of which the beauty, gran- 
deur and agony of expression are marvellous. He 
executed and presented a statue to the V. M. I. of 
"Virginia Mourning Her Dead," in memory of the 
eight Cadets who were killed at New Market and 
are buried on the parade ground of the Institute. 
This monument was unveiled the 4th of July, 1902, 
and he sent the following telegram : 

"Roma, June 22,, 1903. 
"To V. M. I., Lexington, Virginia : 

"Adsum atque illustris complexus limina porte 
et memor et fidus gratulor. Ezekiel." 

Translation of Cable Message — "I am with you, 
and embracing the threshold of your illustrious por- 
tals, mindful of the past and faithful, I send congrat- 
ulations Ezekiel.'' 



ALEXANDER H. H. STUART, JR. 

Alexander H. H. Stuart, Jr., was the son of Hon. 
Alex. Hugh Holmes Stuart and Frances Cornelia 
Baldwin, and was born in Staunton, Va., on May 
14, 1846. His paternal grandfather, Archibald 
Stuart, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and 
a member of the Convention of Virginia which rati- 
fied the Constitution of the United States. His ma- 



126 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

ternal grandfather, Gerard B. Baldwin, was a mem- 
ber of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, 
and his father was Secretary of the Department of 
the Interior during President Fillmore's administra- 
tion. A. H. H. Stuart, Jr., served as a member of 
the Corps of Cadets in the Battle of New Market, 
and continued in the military service of the Con- 
federate Government until the close of the war. He 
then entered the University of Virginia, where he 
distinguished himself for scholarship. During the 
second year at the University he contracted typhoid 
fever and died at his father's home in Staunton on 
July 6, 1867. 

CARRINGTON TAYLOR 

Carrington Taylor was the son of Edwin Mygatt 
Taylor and Jane Eleanor Kinney, and was born in 
Staunton, Va., on December i, 1845, ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 
Richmond, Va., on October 28, 1875. His maternal 
grandfather was William Kinney, a Virginia law- 
yer of note, and his great-grandfather was General 
Robert Porterfield, a distinguished soldier in Gen- 
eral Washington's army of the Revolutionary War. 
Carrington Taylor entered the Virginia Military In- 
stitute and served as a member of the Corps of 
Cadets in the Battle of New Market in 1862. He 
was afterwards a civil engineer and died from dis- 
ease contracted from exposure while engaged in his 
profession, 

FRANCIS TALIAFERRO BROOKE 

Francis Taliaferro Brooke was born in Staunton, 
Va., September 12, 1846. He enlisted in McClana- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 127 

han's Battery February 24, 1864, and served gal- 
lantly at New Market and up to the surrender. In 
1866 he entered the Virginia Military Institute and 
is now a resident of Staunton. 



EDWARD CARRINGTON KINNEY 

Edward Carrington Kinney was born in Staunton, 
Va., March 20, 1845. In 1862 he was with his 
brother, an officer in General Forrest's command. 
He joined that command, and was with it until De- 
cember, 1863, when he was transferred to the Army 
of Northern Virginia and joined McClanahan's bat- 
tery, where he served gallantly (one of the boys at 
New Market) up to the surrender at Appomattox. 



AUGUSTA S BATTLE 



On the 15th of May, 1864, General Breckinridge 
signally defeated Sigel and his hirelings at New 
Market, Va., which for a short time relieved the de- 
voted people of the Shenandoah Valley of the pres- 
ence of the hated foe. 

Over and over again had this beautiful Valley 
been robbed and plundered and horribly had its in- 
habitants suffered, but nothing could dampen their 
ardor and love for the cause for which their sons 
were so heroically battling. But the worst had yet 
to come, for Lincoln had selected a renegade Virgin- 
ian to still further try their loyalty and patriotism. 
Bill Arp, the noble Georgian, who has so recently 



128 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

"passed over the river," said, "That when a Virgin- 
ian fell, he fell farther and harder than any other 
man could." Hunter, the apostate, crossed the Po- 
tomac the latter part of May and immediately began 
his horrid work by burning the beautiful homes of 
his own and his wife's kindred, where both he and 
his wife had often been hospitably entertained. His 
intention was to destroy everything on his march, 
but fortunately he had some officers with him more 
humane than himself, who protested against destroy- 
ing private dwellings. To satisfy them he agreed 
to burn only barns and mills. Hunter may have 
agreed to this, but history shows that he did not 
stick to his agreement, for he not only in many cases 
burned dwellings, but also hung old men, non-com- 
batants, and allowed his men to insult women and 
commit other outrages on the defenseless people. 

General Imboden was then in the Valley with a 
small force, consisting of the Eighteenth Regiment 
of Virginia Cavalry, commanded by his brother. 
Col. Geo. Imboden ; the Twenty-third Cavalry, by 
Col. Robt. White; Davis's Maryland Battalion of 
Cavalry, which had with it a company of old men 
over fifty-five years of age, commanded by Capt. 
Henry Harnsberger, and a company of boys, com- 
manded by Capt. Geo. Chrisman ; McNeil's Rangers, 
and McClanahan's six-gun battery of horse artil- 
lery, commanded by Capt. J. H. McClanahan. The 
regiments were all very much depleted by Imboden 
having the gaps in the mountains leading into West 
Virginia to guard. One of his best regiments, the 
Sixty-second Virginia Mounted Infantry, had gone 
with General Breckinridge, after the Battle of New 
Market, to Richmond. So with this meagre force 




CARRINGTON TAYLOR. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 128 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 129 

all he could do was to fall back, fighting and retard- 
ing the progress of the enemy as much as possible, 
hoping to be reinforced. 

He first met Hunter about Woodstock, on the Val- 
ley turn-pike, and it was not until the 4th of June 
that Hunter had succeeded in forcing his way as far 
as Mount Crawford, in Rockingham County. His 
movements were slow, for he took up more time 
burning and making war on helpless women, old 
men and children, than he did marching or fighting. 
General Early says in his report : "The scenes on 
Hunter's route were truly heart-rending ; houses had 
been burned and helpless women and children left 
without shelter. The country had been stripped of 
provisions, and many families left without a morsel 
to eat. Furniture and bedding had been cut to pieces 
and old men and children robbed of all the clothing 
they had except what was on their backs. Ladies' 
trunks liad been robbed and their dresses torn to 
pieces in mere wantonness." 

About the same time Sheridan had left the right 
of Grant's army with orders to make a junction with 
Hiuiter at Lynchburg, to capture and destroy that 
city, and move down on Lee's rear. But he found 
Hampton and Fitz Lee at Trevilian's and was ter- 
ribly routed, and Hunter at Lynchburg found a lion 
in his path, brave old Jubal Early, who hurled him 
back into the mountains of West Virginia defeated, 
demoralized, and disgraced. 

One can hardly imagine the feelings of our little 
band, as they fell back before the hordes of robbers 
and fire-fiends. At night the sky was lighted up 
with burning houses, and all day refugees were pour- 



130 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

ing into our lines, rending our hearts with their 
tales of horror. 

General Imboden determined to make a final stand 
on the south bank of North River, near Mount 
Crawford, hoping to meet reinforcement there, 
which he did under Gen. W. E. Jones, who took 
command. He had with him Vaughan's Tennessee 
Brigade (dismounted cavalry) ; Sixtieth Virginia, 
Forty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Infantry, also Forty- 
fifth Battalion, and two regiments, composed of old 
men and boys and convalescents from the hospital 
at Staunton and workmen in the shops ; Capt. Opie's 
company of Augusta farmers ; Bryan's battery, and 
a battery made up for the occasion by boys from 
Staunton, and Augusta County. We had a good, 
defensible position there, and anxiously hoped they 
would attack us, but were disappointed. Before 
morning our scouts reported that the enemy had de- 
camped in the night toward Port Republic. At early 
dawn General Jones sent Major Sturgis Davis's bat- 
talion with Harnsberger's and Chrisman's compan- 
ies in that direction, followed by Imboden with his 
two regiments of cavalry. Davis met the advance 
guard of the enemy at Mount Meridian, and he re- 
ported that his old men and boys behaved splendidly. 
The boys had their first baptism of fire. General 
Stahl with a brigade of cavalry drove them and Im- 
boden's cavalry back toward Piedmont, a village 
on the New Hope road in Augusta County. By 
that time our whole force had gotten to that place. 
The writer commanded a section of McClanahan's 
battery, and was ordered by General Jones to go 
rapidly to the front and aid Imboden in holding the 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 131 

enemy in check until he could get his line of battle 
formed. 

I shall never forget the scene as we passed through 
the village, our horses on the run, and our boys yell- 
ing enthusiastically as they always did when going 
to the front. My boys were inspired by the glory of 
battle, and when that feeling takes possession of 
men, all fear vanishes. Lord Wolseley, the great 
English General, says: "I have never experienced 
the same unalloyed and elevating satisfaction, or 
known again the joy I felt, as I ran for the enemy's 
stockade at the head of a small mob of soldiers, most 
of them boys like myself." 

We all had that feeling that day, and were inspired 
by one still stronger, for behind us were our moth- 
ers, wives, sisters and sweethearts. "At home bright 
eyes were sparkling for us, and we would defend 
them to the last." There were some ladies standing 
in a porch, waving their handkerchiefs and cheering 
as we passed, as was usual with the noble women 
of the Valley, when they saw our men going into bat- 
tle. One of them cried out, "Lieutenant, don't let 
your men make so much noise ; they will scare all the 
Yankees away before you can get a shot at them !" 
We passed through the village a few hours later; the 
dear women were gone, and the house they had left 
was riddled with shot and shell and filled with dead 
and wounded soldiers. 

We soon came up to Imboden, retiring before an 
overwhelming body of cavalry, supported by infan- 
try and artillery, and beyond the hill on which we 
took our position the whole country looked blue, 
and behind them was the smoke of burning barns. 
Although we were far ahead of our main body, we 



132 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

felt fairly safe, as we had supporting us Captain 
Opie's company and his gallant men from Augusta. 

We had hardly begun firing before a section of 
the enemy's horse artillery ran out and opened on 
us. They seemed to be excited and fired wildly, but 
my boys replied coolly and deliberately, and soon 
silenced them. I have it from one of Hunter's staff 
officers, with whom I visited the battlefield since 
the war, that we knocked them out completely in a 
short time. He said, "I then put twelve guns on 
you and made you leave." I replied, "Yes, Colonel, 
you did make it hot for us, but we did not leave 
until we had orders to do so." 

General Jones by that time had formed his line 
of battle. His infantry on the left, resting on Mid- 
dle River, with a section of Bryan's battery support- 
ing them. On the right was his cavalry, including 
Vaughn's brigade, a section of Bryan's battery. A 
space of at least a quarter of a mile in the center 
was defended by the boy battery and two sections 
of McClanahan's battery. The rest of the artillery 
was with the cavalry. In reserve he held Colonel 
Harper's and General Harman's regiments of old 
men, boys, and convalescents. 

The enemy made their attack on our left, and gal- 
lantly did we hold our position for hours, time and 
again repulsing the attacks. At last they had to give 
way, but not until they had been worn to a frazzle, 
and nearly if not entirely out of ammunition, and 
most of their officers and many of their men killed 
and wounded, including the gallant commander, 
Colonel Brown, who died on the field. 

We were soon surrounded by our own flying men, 
and in sight of the Yankees. Our men began to give 








FRANCIS T. BROOKE. 

OPPOSITE PAGE 132 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 133 

way. Jones became desperate, rushed impetuously 
to the front, followed by many of Harper's men, 
right on to the Yankee line of battle, which poured 
a deadly volley into them, killing Jones and many 
others. Just then Col. Robt. Doyle, who with other 
officers was trying to rally our men, was also killed. 
I had just gotten my guns unlimbered and would 
have fired but was peremptorily ordered by a staff 
officer of the dead general to limber up and try to 
save my guns. I would have lost them I believe had 
I stayed a minute longer. My boys were behaving 
splendidly and would have stood by the guns until 
the last. 

In our retreat, we had to pass through a piece of 
woods, and my intention was to make a stand as 
soon as I got out of the woods. Flying men were 
all around us and a regiment of Yankee cavalry right 
behind us. This cavalry had been pushed to the 
front to take advantage of the break in our line and 
complete the victory now nearly won. As we got 
out of the woods I saw a section of McClanahan's 
battery, commanded by Lieut. Park Collett, standing 
in the road limbered up and evidently oblivious of 
the critical condition of things. I called out to him 
to get into battery, that the Yankees were right be- 
hind us, intending to unlimber my section as soon 
as I got in line with him, but it was too late, for be- 
fore we had time to get into battery the enemy burst 
out of the woods with yells of triumph, sabring, 
shooting, and riding down our poor fellows. But 
it was the last yell that some of them ever gave, for 
just in front of them were McClanahan's guns and 
behind the guns were men who had never been run 
off a battlefield. By the time I got to him Collett 



134 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

had unlimbered and shotted his guns, and the gun- 
ners were standing with the lanyards in their hands, 
hesitating to fire; and when I called out to them to 
do so, one of them said, "Lieutenant, we will kill 
our own men." There was no time to lose; they 
would have been over us in a minute more; so I 
jumped off my horse and made a grab for the lan- 
yard in the hands of the gunner nearest me; but he 
anticipated me and pulled it off himself, the other 
gunners doing the same, and I never before saw two 
shots do such execution. The whole head of the 
Yankee column seemed to melt away. The timely 
and gallant action of Collett saved everything, all of 
our guns and wagons. The men who were not cap- 
tured retreated on the Mount Sidney road. The 
officer who commanded the advance of the Yankee 
column was in Staunton some years ago, and said 
that the two companies in advance, as they came out 
of the woods, were never organized again. 

It is sweet to die for one's country, to fall with 
your breast bared to the deadly storm in the defense 
of truth and justice and for loved ones. But is there 
any glory to die in the act of shooting down and 
sabring old men and boys who are trying to prevent 
their country from being robbed and plundered, and 
their women from being insulted? 

Soon after Collett began firing, General Imboden 
came up and said, "You are doing the right thing. 
How long can you hold this position?" The reply 
was, "We have stopped here for good." He said 
that the Eighteenth Regiment was coming to our 
support. Soon it came, and it was suggested to the 
General to charge down the road that we might re- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 135 

deem the day; but he only threw out a Hne of battle 
and we held the position. 

I had been in a good many battles, but this was 
the first time my command was driven off the field, 
and now it fills my heart with indignation to know 
that there are men who wore the gray, who for the 
sake of an office are base enough to go North and 
tell the people who robbed and humiliated us that 
they are glad of it; that it was best for us to have 
lost. No doubt they weep when they read how gal- 
lant old Jubal Early defeated Hunter at Lynchburg. 

This was Augusta's battle, and on the bloody field 
old men and boys laid down their lives in the vain 
attempt to save their people from Hunter's barn- 
burners. Is it any reason that because they failed 
we should not raise a monument to keep their memo- 
ries green in the hearts of their posterity? Ought 
not their names at least to be put on record in the 
archives of the county ? I appeal to Augusta's noble 
women to see that justice is done to these heroes. 

This is a very inaccurate account of the battle, I 
know; but there was never an official report of it 
made. I had no data to guide me, and I had to de- 
pend on my memory. I would like to have had the 
list of Augusta's killed and wounded and I would 
be obliged to any one who will furnish me the names, 
for they ought certainly to be put on record in the 
archives of the county. 

A section of Bryan's battery was commanded by 
Sergt. Milton W. Humphreys and did splendid ser- 
vice on the left. Prof. Humphreys is professor of 
Greek at the University of Virginia. Major Saun- 
ders, of the Forty-fifth Regiment, was left for dead 



136 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

on the field, but was revived and saved by Mrs. 
Crawford, who Hved near the battlefield. 

I have been told since by Col. George Imboden, 
who commanded on the extreme right, that most of 
Stahl's cavalry was immediately in his front and 
ready to run around our right wing if he had moved 
away. He said that General Jones had told General 
Imboden in the morning that he must hold the right, 
or Hunter would cut us off from Waynesboro, our 
base. Carter Berkeley. 



WILLIAM T. WHEATLEY 

William T. Wheatley was born in Charles County 
on March 20, 1844, about three miles from the vil- 
lage of Waldorf. When the Civil War broke out 
he was fifteen years of age. He then went to Rich- 
mond, Va., where he joined Company I of the First 
Maryland Regiment, Capt. Michael S. Robertson. 
This was the famous Bucktail Regiment. In the sec- 
ond year of the war he joined the Second Maryland 
Battalion, becoming a member of Company B, with 
Capt. J. Parran Crane, now Judge Crane, of Mary- 
land. 

This youthful soldier went through the whole war 
and took part in such history-making battles as 
Front Royal, Cross Keys and Gettysburg, besides a 
number of smaller engagements. He was wounded 
twice, once at Gettysburg. He was also captured 
twice. The first time was at Hatch's Run. After 
a short time he was exchanged, with 5,000 other sick 
and disabled soldiers, and reported for duty within 
twenty days. His second capture was in front of 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 137 

Richmond, when Grant made his onslaught upon the 
Confederate Capital. This was on April 3, 1865, 
and on June 21 he was paroled and returned home. 
In July of that year he came to Baltimore and took 
a place as clerk in the firm of Wheatley & Anderson, 
of which his uncle, J. Frank Wheatley, was a mem- 
ber. This firm went out of business two years later, 
and, through his uncle's recommendation, he was 
given the then unimportant place of secretary of the 
Corn and Flour Exchange. His subsequent history 
has been very much in the public eye, and the affec- 
tionate regard which his associates entertain for him 
is exemplified by the action taken in 1892, when a 
magnificent silver service was presented to him in 
honor of the twenty-fifth year of his incumbency of 
the office of secretary. 



BILLINGS STEELE 



Billings Steele, one of Mosby's lieutenants, died 
suddenly of pneumonia on Sunday night at the resi- 
dence of his sister, Mrs. A. W. Habersham, in An- 
napolis, Md. 

Mr. Steele was a bachelor, in his fifty-third year. 
He was the youngest son of Henry Maynadier Steele 
and Maria Lloyd Key, of Tollys, near Annapolis. 
He was a nephew of the late I. Nevett Steele, of Bal- 
timore, and a grandson of Francis Scott Key, author 
of the "Star-Spangled Banner." 

On the breaking out of the war, although but six- 
teen years of age, he, in company with his brother, 
Frank Key Steele, at once crossed the Potomac. 
Their intention was to join the Regular Army, but 



138 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Billings, being a fine horseman, concluded to cast his 
lot with Mosby's guerrillas, which he did, and served 
with bravery and distinction until the close. He won 
his promotion in the famous greenback raid. 



ROBERT M KIM 



Robert McKim was born in Baltimore on Decem- 
ber 24, 1843, and was therefore a little over eighteen 
years of age when he fell at the battle near Win- 
chester, Va,, on May 25, 1862. 

His fate was one of those sad incidents of our 
Civil War which are most painful to recall. How 
little availed the great sacrifices made by those gal- 
lant, noble spirits who fought for principles and 
honor! And yet the short life of this young man 
was full of grace and beauty. His varied and ad- 
mirable intellectual gifts and his charming personal 
traits so endeared him to those who knew him that 
they cannot cease to cherish his memory and mourn 
his early death. 

In the autumn of i860, when only sixteen years 
old, he entered the University of Virginia. Those 
were stirring times ; and the students were much ex- 
cited by the rumors of war and the troubles that 
crowded thick and fast over our country. Much of 
their time was spent in military training, and the 
burning questions of the day superseded all other 
interests. During the few months that Robert spent 
at the University his character developed rapidly. 
He possessed great personal beauty, and a charming 
tenor voice made him a favorite amongst his fellow- 
students. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 139 

This beautiful voice is even to-day recalled by his 
friends and comrades with the greatest pleasure. 
At every reunion of his old comrades and fellow- 
soldiers, the old songs, sung over the camp-fires, 
after days of trial, hard fighting and forced marches, 
are recalled with touching remembrance of that 
bright young life. 

In a scrap-book which came to the family after 
the war were several letters and mementos from his 
college friends. They always called him "Honest 
Bob," and allusions were made to the brightest and 
happiest associations. And yet his letters home were 
full of earnest thoughts and high aspirations, and 
he proved himself, during his college and army life, 
an earnest Christian and sincerely religious. 

When the University was closed in June, 1861, 
Robert, with his cousin, Randolph McKim, and 
others, started for Maryland. At Winchester they 
were detained, waiting for passes to cross the lines. 
They were there when the Confederate Army passed 
through, on its way to Manassas, Ardent and en- 
thusiastic, and fully persuaded that the cause of the 
South was a righteous one, these young men enlisted 
then and there. Robert joined the artillery, — the 
Rockbridge Battery, — commanded by General Pen- 
dleton, which formed part of the famous Stonewall 
Jackson's Brigade, A few days afterwards the great 
Battle of Bull Run was fought. What an experi- 
ence for a boy only seventeen, with little military 
training, and no possible knowledge of the horrors 
of war ! From that time he continued a member of 
the Stonewall Brigade; enduring the greatest hard- 
ships, entailed by forced marches, with insufficient 
clothing, no tents and little food. The heroism of 



140 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

that campaign will never be fully appreciated; and 
yet his letters, written at this time, told of the bright- 
est hopes, and the descriptions of their life and ad- 
ventures were full of wit and humor. In them he 
spoke of the Maryland soldiers as suffering terri- 
bly, but being at the same time the merriest fellows 
in the army, and the best marchers. He said : "Oh, 
how I long for the spring to come, when we will 
cross the river and take Washington, and then march 
in triumph to dear old Baltimore!" Alas, in the 
spring he did indeed cross the river. On May 23, 
1862, General Jackson began the march down the 
Luray Valley. The Stonewall Brigade had several 
encounters with the Federal forces, and succeeded 
in driving General Banks back toward Winchester. 
The Marylanders were much exhilarated, and looked 
forward to crossing into Maryland as a certainty. 
The night before the 25th the fighting was very 
severe and the first division of the Rockbridge Ar- 
tillery was in action continually. Early on that 
morning the Confederates advanced, and during a 
severe fight, about six o'clock, Robert was killed — 
struck by the ball of a sharp-shooter. Through the 
kindness of loving friends he was carried into Win- 
chester, and buried there, temporarily. He was later 
brought to Baltimore and buried in the family vault 
at Greenmount. 

One of his old friends, in writing to the family 
lately, said: "About Bob McKim I have but one 
recollection; and that is the pleasure his company 
always gave me. He was a gallant boy, always 
bright and cheerful, and never complaining of any 
lot. It was just such material as he furnished that 
gave the Confederate soldier his undying reputa- 
tion." 




WILLIAM JANNEY HULL. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 140 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 141 

(By Father Ryan.) 
"Young as the youngest who donned the Gray, 
True as the truest that wore it, 
Brave as the bravest — he marched away — 
(Hot tears on the cheeks of his mother lay) ; 
Triumphant waved our flag one day, 
He fell in the front before it. 

"Firm as the firmest where duty led. 

He hurried without a falter ; 
Bold as the boldest he fought and bled, 
And the day was won — but the field was red — 
And the blood of his fresh young heart was shed 

On his country's hallow'd altar. 

"On the trampled breast of the battle plain, 
Where the foremost ranks had wrestled. 
On his pale pure face — not a mark of pain — 
(His mother dreams they will meet again) 
The fairest form amid all the slain, 
Like a child asleep he nestled." 

Emilie McKim Reed. 



WILLIAM JANNEY HULL 

William Janney Hull was a member of the Fifty- 
third Maryland Regiment, and when he was eighteen 
it was called out by a general alarm to defend Balti- 
more against the Pennsylvania mob, marching on 
the town to sack it in revenge for the 19th of April. 
There is nothing more terrifying than the alarm bell 
at night, and I never shall forget as he prepared to 
go, how young and boyish he looked putting on his 
uniform, as gaily as if for a dance. Immediately 
after this he went South, but of course could not 
wear his uniform. The Adams Express was still 
running, and it was one of their rules to forward 
party finery "with haste," so I wrote on the box I 
sent containing the uniform, "For a ball," and it 



142 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

reached him "with haste" and safely. Events jus- 
tified the play on words. He entered the Confederate 
service, and did his duty faithfully until the sur- 
render. He was with General Imboden under Gen- 
eral Early in his campaign in the Valley of Vir- 
gina, and was wounded near Lynchburg. I drove 
over the road they followed in pursuing Averell in 
his raid. My cousin, Judge J. Thompson Brown, 
also one of the pursuers, was with me and told me 
that the small streams we were then fording so easily 
at the time of the raid were over their banks and 
frozen slush extended for many hundred yards. The 
ice in the soldiers' boots had to be thawed before they 
could be removed. 



CHARLES WYNDHAM GAY 

Charles W. Gay was the idol and pride of his fam- 
ily, and his love for his mother and sisters seemed 
to be a talisman to keep him unspotted from the 
world. He was a great student, but the day Vir- 
ginia cast in her lot with the sister States he re- 
solved to volunteer as a private soldier. His health 
was frail and his friends urged him to seek some less 
exposed position, but the front of the battle was his 
choice and in order to fit himself for the service he 
went with his younger brother, Erskine, only six- 
teen, to Lexington to study the elements of military 
tactics. They both enlisted July i, 1861, in the Uni- 
versity Volunteers, and Charles soon gained the rank 
of sergeant. The Volunteers were disbanded in the 
fall and the following spring Charles and Erskine 
set out from Staunton to join the Army of the Shen- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 143 

andoah. After a long and fatiguing march they 
came up with it a few miles from Strasburg, and 
without stopping for food or rest immediately joined 
the Rockbridge Artillery, and in an hour or two 
were taking part in the Battle of Kernstown, in which 
the Rockbridge Battery did memorable service. 
This battery was part of the Stonewall Brigade, and 
nearly every section of the South and all the profes- 
sions were represented on its rolls — eight students 
of Divinity in Charles's mess alone. Later the Gay 
brothers joined the Danville Artillery, under Cap- 
tain Wooding, Third Brigade of Jackson's division, 
and did gallant service in nearly every engagement 
of the brilliant campaign of 1862. Charles's glow- 
ing descriptions of his sensations as they charged 
the routed columns of Banks through the streets of 
Winchester amid wild cheers of welcome show how 
completely the student was merged in the daring, 
enthusiastic young soldier. The Danville Artillery 
was now ordered before Richmond, threatened by 
McClellan, and through all the heavy fighting that 
followed occupied advanced positions on the line. 
For six long bloody days the battle raged with una- 
bated fury. Charles never left his post, his young 
brother always near him; nor did his brave spirit 
falter. He was very ill, really unfit for duty, but 
he calmly stood to his gun, by his example inspiring 
his comrades with equal courage. On the memor- 
able day of Malvern Hill the battery got into position 
under a heavy fire from the gunboats on the James, 
and as his piece was brought into line a fragment 
of a shell struck him in the shoulder and neck, caus- 
ing instant death. His body was borne from the 
field by his brother Erskine and received a soldier's 



144 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

burial in a neighboring churchyard. Later it was 
removed to Hollywood, there to await the last great 
reveille. So lived and died this young soldier, leav- 
ing to us the memory of a blameless life and a heroic 
death, and a sincere belief that for him it was but a 
step from the clash of arms to a realm of perfect 
peace. 

ERSKINE GAY 

Erskine Gay enlisted in the University Volunteers 
with his brother Charles, and their lives in the Army 
ran side by side until the terrible morning when Er- 
skine carried the body of his beloved brother off the 
field of battle, returning instantly to his post of duty, 
with what agony the Reader of all hearts alone 
knows, as his brother's name has never passed his 
lips in all these years. He nobly and faithfully 
served his country until the surrender, with Stone- 
wall Jackson's gallant band of heroes — and is now 
living on the family estate, Gaymont, near Staun- 
ton, and is Commander of the Stonewall Jackson 
Camp of Volunteers. 



RANDOLPH HARRISON M KIM 

Randolph Harrison McKim, of Baltimore, was a 
boy of nineteen at the University of Virginia when 
the war broke out, and immediately joined a com- 
pany of University Volunteers, and marched to Har- 
per's Ferry. He fought with this company until the 
Maryland regiments were organized, when he was 
transferred to the Second Maryland Infantry in Cap- 



y 



RANDOLPH HARRISON M KIM. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 14 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 145 

tain William Murray's company, under Gen. Geo. 
Steuart, on whose staff he was afterwards appointed. 
He had many narrow escapes, his horse being- shot 
under him frequently. The most remarkable was 
at the Battle of Gettysburg. At Gulp's Hill the am- 
munition ran out and supplies could only be obtained 
by the men passing under a terrible fire of the enemy. 
General Steuart called for volunteers for the des- 
perate attempt. Young McKim said, "General, do 
not call for volunteers while you have a staff officer 
left;" and taking four men, he brought the needed 
ammunition in blankets, literally walking "the gaunt- 
let," as so heavily laden rapid motion was impossible. 
Strange to say they passed unscathed — let us hope 
through the recognition by their foes of such daunt- 
less sustained courage. Young McKim fought gal- 
lantly until the close of the war and then entered the 
ministry, as he always intended. There are some 
interesting letters in possession of his family telling 
of the serious religious tone of his regiment, and 
of the prayer meetings in camp, of which he was a 
leader. The fact of so many divinity students and 
even ordained ministers taking active part in the 
struggle shows that the principles for which they 
fought_ were not incompatible with devotion to God 
and His service. 

"My men are out of ammunition, sir," said Capt. 
William Murray. "I will bring the ammunition, if 
I live." 

Words that should be written in letters of gold, 
and they fell from the lips of Lieut. Randoloh 
McKim. 



146 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

COMPANY A, SECOND MARYLAND INFANTRY 

Company A, Second Maryland, was composed al- 
most entirely of very young men and boys, some of 
them members of Company H, First Maryland In- 
fantry. In battle they not only showed heroic cour- 
age in attack, but were dauntless, unwavering, ex- 
alted in defeat. At Culp's Hill, at the Battle of Get- 
tysburg, after such an unparalleled charge that it has 
immortalized them, "of 900 brave men against the 
bayonets of 10,000 foemen and artillery innumera- 
ble," up the side of a mountain, the enemy entrenched 
behind line above line of fortifications, they were al- 
most destroyed and were compelled to retreat. But 
it was no rout, no disorganized flight. The men 
moved down the mountain as if on parade, their 
officers marching backwards, faces to the foe, mark- 
ing time with their swords. I shall tell of some of 
the brave boys who either took part in this charge 
or lay dead or wounded on the field. 



WILLIAM HOLLINS BOWLY 

William Hollins Bowly was the first boy over the 
fortifications at Culp's Hill. As the regiment re- 
formed the enemy discharged a volley and he was 
instantly killed — only nineteen years old in the 
fourth year of the war. 



LAMAR HOLLYDAY 



Lamar Hollyday, in the last charge on Culp's Hill, 
was wounded in the thigh in his effort to reach a 




RANDOLPH HARRISON M KIAI. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 146 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 147 

Union color-bearer just before the retreat began. 
After he fell he was shot a second time, and a huge 
Yankee, seizing him by the arm, dragged him some 
distance, his shattered leg in agony. When they 
reached the breastworks some one asked, "Isn't that 
a Rebel?" And he called out sturdily, "Yes, I am 
a Rebel !" 

CHARLES L. BRADDOCK 

Charles L. Braddock was so young that he ran 
away and went into the Army without the consent 
of his mother. At the Battle of Gettysburg, when 
his company was charging the enemy at Gulp's Hill, 
he exclaimed, "Do you call this war? I call it fun!" 
Later he was seen fighting before Petersburg, but 
after that nothing was ever heard of him, though 
his mother watched and waited for news of her boy. 



CHARLES TILGHMAN LLOYD 

Gharles Tilghman Lloyd was carried off the bat- 
tlefield of Gettysburg wounded, but returned to his 
post almost immediately, to be wounded a second 
time — this time mortally. 



SOMERVILLE PINKNEY GILL 

Somerville Pinkney Gill was killed instantly, after 
passing through this baptism of fire, at the Battle of 
Peeble's Farm, aged twenty-one, in the fourth year 
of the war. His body was never found. 



148 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

DR. TALMAGE's story 

In assisting to capture the rifle-pits on the Squir- 
rel Level road, Willis G. D. Baxley, aged seventeen, 
was mortally wounded, at the same time with Wil- 
liam Scholley Prentiss. Dr. Talmage was visit- 
ing the hospital in Washington and a bright young 
fellow called him and said : "Doctor, I want to tell 
you something. You think I am one of your peo- 
ple; I am not, I'm a Rebel." The Doctor set his 
mind at rest and told him it did not make the slight- 
est difference. Prentiss was again wounded at Pet- 
ersburg, and on being taken to the hospital of the 
Sixth Army Corps he met his brother, Major Pren- 
tiss, of the Union Army — also severely wounded. 
The two brothers died there together! 



SAMUEL BOWYER DAVIS 

Samuel Bowyer Davis was wounded at Gettys- 
burg, and taken prisoner to Chester ; but by bribing 
his guard made his escape. On his way South, at 
Easton, he met Otho Williams on the boat with sev- 
eral Federal officers. Mr. Williams said, "How do 
you do, Davis. I thought you were in Virginia." 
Davis answered, "You are mistaken, sir ; that is not 
my name." Finally he reached Richmond and was 
sent to Andersonville, in charge of Union prisoners ; 
but later meeting a friend who had been ordered on 
very dangerous duty, he volunteered to take his 
place. This was to take dispatches to Canada in re- 
gard to John Yates Beall. Davis reached Canada 
safely, but was captured in Indiana on his return. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 149 

and being recognized by a former prisoner at Ander- 
sonville was condemned to death as a spy. The 
morning he was to be hung the jailer said, "Davis, 
we have your cravat ready for you." He answered, 
*'I will show you how a Southern man can die for 
his country." He was reprieved, however, by order 
of President Lincoln, through the influence of Mrs. 
Turnbull, and sentenced to imprisonment for life in 
Albany. He was pardoned in 1865. His speech 
in his own defense was said to have been worthy of 
Demosthenes. 



PARKER S BOY BATTERY 

Dr. Hale says : "The Battle of Gettysburg was won 
by boys whose ages averaged twenty-three." We 
call those men. On the Southern side battles were 
lost or won by boys averaging sixteen years old, real 
school boys ; with young officers of high rank from 
seventeen to twenty-four — so nobly fought that Gen. 
S. D. Lee, addressing Parker's Boy Battery after an 
engagement in which they had distinguished them- 
selves, said, "You are boys, but you have gone this 
day where only men could go." The retreat from 
Gettysburg was covered at one point by two guns of 
that battery, which remained in position some time 
after the retreat had begun. A Confederate officer 
rode up to Captain Parker and demanded why he 
did not go. He replied he had no order from com- 
petent authority to do so. Receiving this order, 
that little battery retired, slowly following the regi- 
ments which were leaving the field in good order, 
their officers walking backwards step by step, face 
to foe. History presents no other such picture. A 



150 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

United States officer stated afterwards that his force 
was prevented from pursuing and attacking- the re- 
treating army by this battery, as no one would have 
supposed it could have been left in that position with- 
out strong support. 



"Staunton, November 13, 1904. 
"My Dear Cousin : 

"The children received your note about war rec- 
ollections, but in this busy day, that time is seldom 
in mind ; and I have never interested myself much in 
the renaissance of Confederate ideas forty years 
after the facts. It reminds me of the small boys 
prancing around on the saw dust with their stick 
horses after the circus has left town, I was first in 
the Botts Grays, Second Infantry, in the taking of 
the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, the first "event" in 
Virginia. My brother Briscoe was with us, not 
quite fifteen. At Brandy Station he got several 
sabre wounds, and was a prisoner at Old Capitol. 
Afterwards I was the youngest officer in the Fifty- 
second Infantry, and the youngest man except one — 
our little blind drummer, Maurice. When Milroy 
attacked our camp on the Alleghany, at dawn of De- 
cember 13, I pulled Maurice out of his bunk and 
made him beat the long roll down the street of the 
camp, before making his toilet, and I can almost hear 
him swearing yet. He was not quite fourteen. It 
was very cold, but got warmer in a few minutes. 
At First Manassas, when Jackson's line, broken by 
the charge of the New York Zouaves, reformed and 
took the guns of the Rhode Island Battery, the near- 
est one killed to the cannon was a fair-haired boy 
in V. M. I. Cadet uniform, hardly fourteen, who 




THOMAS D. RANSON. 

OPPOSITE PAGE 150 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 151 

was shot through the heart as he jumped over a lit- 
tle brush fence almost in reach of the gunners ; and 
I shall never forget how brave and handsome he 
looked with his little dress sword clinched in his 
hand. Baylor's Light Horse, from Jefferson County, 
was made up almost altogether of boys at first, and 
their dash and gallantry was the talk of the whole 
cavalry command. I hardly ever saw a fight with- 
out seeing boys at the front. 

"Your affectionate cousin, 

"Thos. D. Ranson.'' 



THOMAS D. RANSON 



One of General Stuart's special detail of scouts, 
operating for the department of Secret Service on 
the B. and O. R. R. in the lower Valley, took it 
into his head to go home to see — a sister. His home 
was Charlestown, a historic village, changing hands 
between Federals and Confederates many times in a 
day, but never its principles and sympathies. It was 
"blue" enough at this time, a brigade of infantry 
in undisturbed but vigilant possession. The visitor 
had to leave old "Stockinglegs" and do some traveling 
on all fours to reach cover of his roof-tree, and un- 
fortunately having stirred up the pickets was not 
only cut off from his horse but unable for two days 
and nights either to get away or to see that "sister," 
except an exasperating view through the cracks in 
the shutters of an unsuccessful interview between 
her and a "corporal of the guard." It was the day 
of hoopskirts, and the lady in the case had under 
that sanction an elegant pair of cavalry boots, the 



152 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

latest New York and Washington papers, and let- 
ters galore for the boys in camp. She finally flanked 
that picket and got through at another point. She 
was postmistress for Company B, but not by Federal 
appointment. He crawled out that night between 
the pickets, and faithful Old John, one of a dozen 
negroes, big and little, who had been helping to hide 
him, and lying to the Yankees, and who would have 
died sooner than betray him, brought him a little 
Canadian pony that had been hidden in a cellar, and 
he made his way to Harper's Ferry. There a friend, 
a citizen, met him with more Northern newspapers. 
While they were talking, such long trains began 
passing the Ferry in such quick succession from the 
West, without stopping, that their curiosity was 
aroused. A dozen trains loaded with troops and 
artillery were explanation enough to the scout of a 
sudden movement of the Army of the West, with- 
drawn from Bragg's front, to reinforce Meade for 
an assault upon the unprepared troops of Lee in 
their scattered winter quarters. It was not very 
long before that pony was twenty miles away, swim- 
ming the Shenandoah, swollen by heavy rains. 
Horse and rider were carried by the current far 
below the ford, and landed drenched and exhausted. 
Yet that little Canadian pony held out for some 
twenty miles more with one hurried feed, then sank 
down and died while the saddle was being buckled 
on a fresh steed impressed from a farmer by the 
roadside. Somehow, like a nightmare ride, the 
eighty-five miles or more were covered, report made 
to General Stuart, the scout sent on without a mo- 
ment's delay to General Lee, and almost as quickly 
admitted to his tent, the simple headquarters of the 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 153 

Army of Northern Virginia. There he was received 
with as much poHteness as if the boy private was 
a corps commander, and in less than ten minutes 
the General knew all that was in him and had left 
the tent. What followed was a blank for perhaps 
two hours, the last words heard being orders quietlv 
and rapidly given for the movement and concentra- 
tion of the troops. He waked as he had waked 
more than once on that uncanny ride, with a feeling 
that the next step would carry his horse over an 
awful precipice. He had been broken down from 
loss of sleep at the start, and the ride had almost 
finished him. The torture had been indescribable. 
All the phantasms and vagaries imaginable at- 
tended it. Men cantering alongside and in front 
of him were ghosts to the touch; river and forest 
and mountains blended confusedly, but the power- 
ful will controlled the body and it acted mechanic- 
ally. Before he could realize where he was, the 
tent fly was softly opened and General Lee's noble 
face appeared. Seeing his guest awake he en- 
tered. It seems that the tired boy had fallen for- 
ward from the camp chair to the General's cot, in 
a dead sleep, the moment he had been left. Gen- 
eral Lee, returning, had thrown a cloak over him, 
left him in possession, tied the tapes of the tent 
door, and actually stood guard before it in the bleak 
winter night, that the boy might sleep uninterrupted 
as the couriers came and went. To say the boy was 
ashamed would poorly express his feelings, but it 
was even more embarrassing to have a special sup- 
per served to him in the General's tent and to be 
honored by compliments on what he had done. The 
supper was the same he saw several times later 



154 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

served at the General's mess, and just what was 
issued to his men in the ranks ; but the scanty ration 
was garnished with the grace of his courtesy and 
dignity. Is it any wonder that his men loved 
"Marse Bob?" What other commander, at such a 
time, would have shown such delicate consideration 
for a soldier boy? Sure enough the purpose was a 
sudden attack on Lee, but Meade's blow was not 
delivered. His stealthy advance found Lee waiting 
in strong entrenchments, ready and willing for a 
fight, so Meade went to entrenching on his own 
account. He is said to have declared that he could 
carry the position with the loss of thirty thousand 
men, but as that idea was so frightful there seemed 
nothing to do but retire, so at the end of four days 
he backed out and retreated to the Rapidan. 



HENRY ALBERT ROBY 



Henry Albert Roby, of Baltimore, wished to run 
the blockade and join the Southern Army, but could 
not leave without saying farewell to his mother, 
and hesitated, fearing she would not consent to his 
fighting in the Confederate ranks. However, she 
made no objection, like many another "Spartan" 
mother, only asking him to wait until he was eigh- 
teen — possibly hoping his ardor would cool by that 
time. But one terrible night, a short time after his 
eighteenth birthday, the rain pouring in torrents, 
he knelt to receive her parting blessing, and went 
out into the storm to make his way across the lines. 
He reached Harry Gilmor's command safely, but 
after a short time was attached to the First Mary- 




GENERAL LEE AS PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 154 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 155 

land Battalion, under Captain Dement. At the Bat- 
tle of Gettysburg his caisson was separated from 
the gun to which it belonged, and in order to sup- 
ply the gun with ammunition he had again and 
again to run the gauntlet of a terrific fire. He was 
much complimented by his superior officer for his 
courage and endurance in such a dangerous position. 
This caisson was afterwards struck by a shell and 
he was thrown into the air by the force of the ex- 
plosion. In falling he struck one of the wheels, but 
strange to say was not seriously injured, but fought 
nobly and gallantly until the end of the war. At 
the time of the war with Spain he wrote this little 
poem calling on the brothers in Blue and Gray — an 
instance of what President Davis said, that "A 
brave man cannot hate." 

BLUE AND GRAY 

"Hear the Nation's bugle-call, 

Blue and Gray; 
Up and rally one and all, 

Blue and Gray ! 
Sons of sires who fought with Lee, 
With Grant, so great in victory, 

Unite to day ! 

"Hark the cannon's thunder call, 

Blue and Gray; 
Let once more a new Stonewall, 

Blue and Gray, 
Front the 'Blood and gold of Spain' 
Flaunting o'er the murdered Maine 

In Havana's bay ! 

"Not against a brother's breast, 

Blue and Gray; 
Shall the bayonet be pressed 

In this fray. 
Let the cruel foreign foe 
Gloat o'er bleeding Cuba's woe 

While they may. — 



156 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

"Gathering in resistless might, 

Blue and Gray ; 
Armed by justice ifor the fight, 

Blue and Gray; 
Now for freedom draw the sword, 
Trust for victory to the Lord — 

Forward! Blue and Grav!" 



THOMAS JACKSON WATERS 

Thomas Jackson Waters, of St. Mary's County, 
Md., in his eighteenth year joined the First Virginia 
Cavalry, under Captain George R. Gaither, one of 
Maryland's bravest sons. In the retreat from Get- 
tysburg he was captured and taken first to Capitol 
Prison and later to Point Lookout in his own county. 
There one morning he heard two prisoners discus- 
sing a plan of escape, and asking how it was to be 
done, G. M. Surpell, of Prince George's County, 
told him they were going to try to get away that 
night by swimming the river. Young Waters said 
that would do him no good as he could not swim a 
stroke; but the other prisoner, Mulay, of Texas, 
said, "Never mind, come along; we'll get away 
somehow." So that night, a little before eight 
o'clock, when the guard's back was turned, not more 
than ten feet away, the three men bolted, ran to the 
river, and hid behind the cliff, and though sought 
for diligently were not found. As soon as it was 
very dark they crawled along the beach until they 
came to some planks, on which they pushed out into 
the water. About half a mile from shore, his two 
companions crying, "Well, good-by, Waters, every 
man for himself!" swam off and he was alone on a 
plank in the middle of the Potomac River, not able 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 157 

to swim. He hung on as best he could, however, 
and paddled along until nearly sunrise, when, half 
dead with exhaustion, he was washed ashore near 
St. Jerome's Creek, eight miles from where they 
struck out. They must all have been carried by the 
current to about the same place, as after walking 
along the bank a little while he met both of his com- 
panions. They hid in the woods all day, meeting 
an old farmer named Richardson, who gave them 
food, and as soon as night fell assisted them to get 
away. They passed through Washington safely and 
eventually reached their commands. Young Waters 
was near the gallant J. E. B. Stuart when he was 
killed at Yellow Tavern, and helped to lift him off 
his horse. He fought bravely until the surrender, 
in the Wilderness, in sixty battles in sixty days, and 
even afterwards, whenever the slightest criticism 
was made on the South and its heroes. 



JOHN EMORY SUDLER 



John Emory Sudler left home in February, 1862, 
to join the Confederate cavalry with his chum, 
Thomas H. Gemmill, who had already enlisted in 
the First Maryland Cavalry at Richmond, and had 
returned home to raise funds to help equip the regi- 
ment, as the Southern cavalrymen had to furnish 
their own horses. Young Sudler wanted to take his 
favorite horse with him, but it was impossible, and 
he sold "Moloch" in Baltimore — a sad beginning 
to the young fellow's career, to part with so true 
and dear a friend as a future cavalryman's favorite 
horse must be. The two friends journeyed warily 



158 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

through lower Maryland, finally reaching Chaptico, 
where they waited in hiding for a favorable night 
to cross — joined by two Confederate officers, Cap- 
tain Ward, on General Trimble's staff, and Mr. Wil- 
liams, and some young traders with contraband 
goods. The night came, one to delight the heart of 
a blockade-runner, the wind blowing furiously, a 
heavy snow falling. The boat, commanded by Cap- 
tain Cawood, an experienced blockader, was rowed 
by six stalwart negroes, with muffled oars, and or- 
ders given in whispers. Just at the start a young 
man came up and said his name was Bowie and he 
must get to Virginia that night, so he was hustled 
aboard and the boat put off. Half way across, at a 
hurried signal, the men stopped rowing, and not a 
minute too soon, as a gunboat passed so close the 
man in the bow could have touched it with his oar. 
They were all rejoicing at the danger past, when 
"Bowie" sprang up, and before he could be pre- 
vented fired two shots from his revolver after the 
retreating gunboat. Its engines were stopped, but 
fortunately she could not tell from what direction the 
shots came, and while she was moving first north, 
then south, then north again, the rowboat, carrying 
no light, was making rapid progress toward the 
Virginia shore. At dawn the gunboat discovered 
the whereabouts of the rowboat, and shot and shell 
began whistling through the air; but the boat touch- 
ing bottom in about a foot of water, no order was 
ever more instantly obeyed than that of Captain 
Cawood's, "Get ashore!" The young traders, un- 
willing to leave their goods, were captured. 
"Bowie" disappeared. Was he "Bowie" or a Yan- 
kee spy? 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 159 

Young Sudler reached Harry Gilmor's command 
in safety and was made captain of the Second Mary- 
land Cavalry, and served gallantly until the sur- 
render at Appomattox. He was wounded in the 
ankle at Chancellorsville and received a sabre cut 
at the Battle of Cedar Creek. 

The following constitute a little group of school- 
mates of John Emory Sudler, who lost their lives in 
the Confederate Army — all from Kent County, Md. : 

John Chapman Spencer, son of Samuel W. Spen- 
cer, cashier of the State Bank at Chestertown, at 
about seventeen years of age enlisted in the First 
Maryland Cavalry, and was killed at Greenbrier 
Gap, W. Va., in 1863. 

Thomas H. Gemmill, son of Dr. Wm. H. Gem- 
mill, of Kent County, enlisted in the First Maryland 
Cavalry and was killed in a charge near Winchester 
in 1863. 

Levi Perkins, son of Mr. Isaac Perkins, of Kent 
County, enlisted in the First Maryland Cavalry, and 
was killed at Sandy Spring, Maryland, in 1864. 

Harvey Blackistone, son of Wm. H. Blackistone, 
of Kent County, was lieutenant in First Maryland 
Cavalry, and was killed in a fight at Bunkers Hill, 
near Winchester, in 1864, 

Alfred Kennard, son of Dr. Kennard, of Kent 
County, enlisted in the Western Army under Al- 
bert Sidney Johnston, and was killed at Shiloh in 
1862. 

Benjamin C. Vickers, son of the Hon. George 
Vickers, of Kent County, enlisted in McCullough's 
Texas Rangers, and was killed in 1862. 



160 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

JOHN THOMPSON MASON 

John Thompson Mason was a son of Major Isaac 
S. Rowland, a volunteer officer in the Mexican War, 
and Cathrine Armstead Mason, of Loudoun County, 
Va. He was born in 1844. His father died when 
he was only five years old, and his maternal grand- 
father, John Thompson Mason, of Virginia, having 
no son of his own and wishing to perpetuate the dis- 
tinguished name of Mason, requested that this child 
should take the name, which was done by act of court. 
Just before the war he received the promise of an 
appointment to the Naval Academy from Mr. Love- 
joy, the famous abolitionist, through the influence of 
Mr. Brownson Murray and his aunt, Miss Emily V. 
Mason. Having to reside in the State from which 
he was appointed, he went to Illinois after spending 
his last Christmas (as it proved) in the Fairfax 
County home, "The Cottage," the Christmas of i860. 
At his home so near Washington the political excite- 
ment raised the winter temperature to fever heat. 
As early as January, 1861, secession cockades were 
made and worn in Virginia, of the Virginia colors — 
blue and gold — the button bearing the Virginia coat 
of arms. One of these was sent to Mason, and the 
boy, in a spirit of mischief, wore it pinned to his 
jacket. Love joy heard of it and sent the following 
letter to Miss Mason, which is preserved among her 
papers. The irate abolitionist writes : 

"Washington, February i, 1861. 
"I have learned that your boy has been sporting a 
dis-union badge since he left. This, of course, settles 
the question of his nomination. To avoid all dis- 
cussion or importunity I have taken steps to give it 
to another," 




JOHN THOMPSON MASON. 

OPPOSITE PAGE 180 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 161 

Jack was at home when Virginia seceded and was 
eager to enter the Virginia army. He was only 
fourteen years of age. Too young to enlist, he was 
received as a "marker" in the Alexandria County 
Seventeenth Virginia Infantry, and was in the First 
Battle of Manassas, and in the trenches all night in 
the rain and mud after the first day's battle. When 
he walked in to see his mother, who was in Fauquier 
County, he was so black from dirt and powder that 
she did not know him. 

Shortly after the Battle of Manassas, Mason was 
appointed midshipman in the Confederate Navy and 
sent to the naval school ship Patrick Henry. He 
served at Drewry Blufif, and was then sent abroad for 
service on one of the Confederate cruisers running 
the blockade at Charleston, S. C. Young Mason 
went to Abbeville, a quiet town in France, where he 
applied himself assiduously to the study of his pro- 
fession and in gaining a thorough knowledge of the 
French language, succeeding admirably in both. 

About this time Capt. W. C. Whittle, a son of 
Commodore Whittle and nephew of Bishop Whittle, 
of Virginia, met Mason, who had passed his exami- 
nation and secured his appointment as "passed mid- 
shipman." In October, 1864, he was assigned to a 
cruiser, gotten out from England for the Confederate 
Navy, and with Commander Waddell and other 
officers of the prospective cruiser, except Lieutenant 
Whittle, sailed from Liverpool on the consort steamer 
Laurel to meet their ship elsewhere. Captain Whittle 
writes : 

"I was assigned to the ship as her first lieutenant 
and executive officer, and sailed from London on 
board of her under her merchant name, Sea King. 



162 Boy^ Soldiers of the Confederacy 

The two vessels, by preconcertion, met at the Madeira 
Islands, and, leaving- there in company, sailed to 
Desertas Island, where the Sea King was christened 
and commissioned the Confederate States Cruiser 
Shenandoah, and the guns, ammunition, and equip- 
ment were transferred from the consort Laurel to the 
cruiser Shenandoah, which promptly started on her 
memorable cruise. Her officers were Lieutenant- 
Commander James I. Waddell, of North Carolina; 
W. C. Whittle, of Virginia, First Lieutenant and 
Executive Officer; Lieutenants, John Grimball, of 
South Carolina; S. S. Lee, Jr., Virginia; F. L. Chew, 
Missouri ; Dabney M. Scales, Mississippi ; Sailing 
Master, Irvine S. Bullock, of Georgia; Passed Mid- 
shipmen, Orris A. Brown, Virginia, and John T. 
Mason, Virginia; Surgeon, C. E. Lining, South 
Carolina ; Assistant Surgeon, F. J. McNulty, District 
of Columbia; Paymaster, W. B. Smith, Louisiana; 
Chief Engineer, M. O'Brien Law, Louisiana ; Assist- 
ant Engineers, Codd, Maryland; Hutchinson, Scot- 
land; MacGreffery, Ireland; Master Mates, John 
Minor, Virginia ; Coton, Maryland ; Hunt, Virginia ; 
Boatswain, Harwood, England; Gunner, Guy, 
England; Carpenter, O'Shea, Ireland; Sailmaker, 
Allcott, England. 

"Under these officers and subordinates this gallant 
ship made one of the most wonderful cruises on 
record. She was a merchant ship which had not 
about her construction a single equipment as a vessel 
of war. Her equipment — such as guns, ammunition, 
breechings, carriages, etc. — were all in boxes on her 
decks, and these gallant officers and a few volunteer 
seamen from her crew and that of her consort were 
to transform and equip her on the high seas, and in 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 163 

all kinds of weather. None but the experienced can 
appreciate what a Herculean task that was. But it 
was enthusiastically undertaken and accomplished, 
and none were more conspicuous and untiring in his 
efforts to bring order out of chaos than young Mason. 

"Our gallant little ship spread her broad canvas 
wings and sailed around the world, using her 
auxiliary steam power only in calm belts or in chase. 
We went around Cape of Good Hope, thence 
through the Indian Ocean to Melbourne, Australia, 
thence through the islands of Polynesia, passing the 
Caroline, Gilbert, and other groups, on northward 
through Kurile Islands into the Okhotsk Sea, until 
stopped by the ice. We came out of the Okhotsk 
and went up the coast of Kamchatka into Bering 
Sea, and through Bering Strait into the Arctic 
Ocean, until the ice again prevented us from going 
farther, so we turned, passed again through the 
Aleutian Islands, into the Pacific Ocean. By this 
time we had absolutely destroyed or broken up the 
Federal whaling fleets. 

"While sweeping down the Pacific coast, looking 
for more prey, we chased and overhauled a vessel 
flying the British flag. On boarding her we found 
it was the British bark Barracoiila, bound from San 
Francisco to Liverpool. This was August 2, 1865. 
From her captain we learned the war had been over 
since the previous April. The effect of this crush- 
ing intelligence on us can better be imagined than 
described. We found that much of our work of 
destruction to the whaling fleet of the United States 
had been done after the war closed, unwittingly of 
course, for from the nature of their work the whalers 
had been away from communication almost as long 



164 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

as we had, and were equally as ignorant of results. 
We promptly declared our mission of war over, dis- 
armed our vessel, and shaped our course for England 
with well-nigh broken hearts. We journeyed around 
Cape Horn, and on November 6, 1865, arrived at 
Liverpool and surrendered to the British govern- 
ment through their guard ship Donegal by hauling 
down the last Confederate flag that ever floated in 
defiance to the United States, after having circum- 
navigated the globe, cruised in every ocean except the 
Antarctic, and made more captures than any other 
Confederate cruiser except the famous Alabama. 

"After a full investigation of our conduct by the 
law officers of the Crown, it was decided that we 
had done nothing against the rules of war or the 
laws of nations or to justify us in being held as 
prisoners, so we were unconditionally released by 
the nation to which we had surrendered. But the 
authorities of the United States considered us pirates 
and in their heated hatred at that time would have 
treated us as such if we had fallen into their hands, 
so we had to find homes elsewhere than in our native 
land. Four of us (S. S. Lee, Orris A. Brown, John 
T. Mason, and myself) selected the Argentine 
Republic, in South America, and some time in 
December, 1865, sailed from Liverpool in a steamer 
for Buenos Ayres, via Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and 
Montevideo. After prospecting a while, we went to 
Rosario, on Rio Parana, and near there bought a 
small place and began farming. 

"As the animosity of the Federal government began 
to soften toward us. Brown and Mason returned 
home, Lee and myself coming some time later. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 165 

"On returning home Mason took a law course at 
the University of Virginia, graduated, and was 
brilHantly successful at his profession. He settled 
in Baltimore, and married Miss Helen Jackson, of 
New York, a daughter of the late Lieut. Alonzo C. 
Jackson, of the United States Navy. His wife, two 
sons and two daughters survive him." 

When the Century Magazine was bringing out its 
series of war articles and "The Cruise of the 
Shenandoah" was wanted. Midshipman Mason was 
the only person who had the material for the sketch. 
It has been said that the story of these Confederate 
privateers reads like a romance of the sea. The 
record of Paul Jones is no more inspiring than the 
tale of Admiral Semmes and the Alabama and of 
Capt. James F. Waddell of the Shenandoah. 

John Thompson Mason's "journal" appeared in 
print as "Leaves from the Private Journal of an 
Officer of the Confederate Steamer Shenandoah," 
in Southern Society, edited by Eugene Didier, of 
Baltimore. 

Mason was always methodical, and although the 
youngest officer on the Shenandoah, was the only one 
who preserved his log-book, and kept a private 
journal during the entire cruise. 



BAYLOR S BOYS. 



Near Berlin, in the castle of Heros von Borcke, 
who served on the staff of both, the portrait of 
Stuart hangs above that of his Crown Prince. The 
owner answers criticism of this by asserting that 
Stuart, as a cavalry leader, had no peer in his 
generation. 



166 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

In October, 1863, after the second cavalry fight at 
Brandy Station, while General Lee was moving his 
army around the right flank of Meade's army, with 
Stuart's cavalry protecting and concealing the line 
of march, the Twelfth Virginia, under Colonel 
Funston, had spent one morning in desultory skir- 
mishing; and reaching the Warrenton road found 
Hill's Corps of infantry halted on a range of hills 
overlooking a bottom, on the farther side of which 
ran the Rappahannock River. The bridge and 
banks were held by a considerable force of the 
enemy, protected by rifle-pits enfilading the road for 
nearly a mile, and the hills beyond were fringed with 
cannon. It was a very unwholesome-looking road 
to ride on that day, so the whole army was halted 
till it could be cleared. The artillery was at work 
on both sides. The Twelfth Virginia were inter- 
ested spectators for a minute, when a courier came 
dashing up with an order from General Stuart for 
the charging squadrons of Rosser's brigade to drive 
those people away. That honor belonged to Baylor's 
company from Jefferson County, with Company I 
from Warrenton supporting it, and there was quick 
mounting done and pushing for the front files, for 
an army were to be onlookers at their performance. 
Baylor's Light Horse and the Clark Cavalry dis- 
puted the claim to be the crack company of the Laurel 
Brigade. They were largely composed of wounded 
officers and men (and many boys) from the infantry 
service who re-enlisted as privates in these com- 
mands, and were nearly all splendidly mounted. 

Out of the lazy grass, into the saddle, into the 
narrow and dirty road, by fours; drawn sabres, 
forward, trot, gallop — charge, and Company B was 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 167 

in a dead run across the valley for the rifle-pits, with 
cheers from our infantry battle Hne; first dropping 
shots, then volleys, then pandemonium in front as the 
river was reached — musketry smoke and the coming 
night obscuring all. On to the bridge and into fire, 
as well as smoke, for the other end was burned or 
torn away. Horses were pulled on their haunches, 
and from gallant Baylor and old Seth, at the edge, 
came the orders : "Halt ! by fours, right about wheel, 
take the river !" And without a break in the ranks, 
or a moment's hesitation the little column turned, 
jumped their horses into the river and made for the 
other bank. Out of their entrenchment swarmed 
the Federals, not waiting for sabre stroke. Then 
came cheers from our infantry on the hills. In the 
midst of it all appeared Stuart, looking like a 
Centaur, his beard and his horse's mane in the air 
as he dashed to the bridge. Major Venable close 
behind him. The men took in the situation and one 
br two in the river held his bridle reins until the rest 
cleared up the blue coats on the other bank and 
formed company. Then Stuart was released, and 
riding up to Baylor he paid to him and his company 
a compliment as unique as it was substantial. 
Uncovering and bowing, he furloughed the whole 
command for thirteen days as a mark of his appre- 
ciation of their gallant conduct. Such a thing was 
probably never done before in the face of the enemy. 
The fact was that following the movement with his 
glass he thought the turn on the bridge meant a 
repulse and a disgraceful retreat of the flower of his 
command under the eyes of General Lee and a whole 
corps of infantry. Without a word he put spurs to 
his horse and dashed to the front to reform the 



168 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

squadron and lead the charge across the bridge. He 
had not even summoned his staff, and only Major 
Venable could reach him. One of the company now 
resident in Staunton relates this incident to illustrate 
the spirit and courtesy of the General commanding 
our cavalry, that matchless officer, J. E. B. Stuart, 
as well as the gallantry of his men and the mettle of 
the boys of Baylor's command. 



"Richmond, Va., October i6, 1904. 

"My Dear Mrs. Hull : 

"My sister handed me your letter and requested 
me to answer it. *Boy Heroes' — I must confess I 
have never thought of being a hero during the war. 
I did what was told me. That is all that I can say. 
I am afraid if you start out to get every Southern 
soldier that was under eighteen years of age you 
will have a very large book. However, I will do 
what I can, and try and show what was my past. 
My first part in the war was as a Cadet of the Vir- 
ginia Military Institute. In May, 1862, I left the 
Institute and went to Staunton, where we met Gen- 
eral Jackson. After remaining there a day or two, 
we started with General Jackson's corps. Did no 
fighting. Were placed in line of battle at Mac- 
Donald, then went back into camp, and finally went 
to Franklin, in line of battle. Again no fighting. 
In July, 1863, I joined Colonel John S. Mosby's 
command. Forty-third Virginia Battalion of Cav- 
alry, as a private; was made second sergeant of 
Company A ; was promoted to second lieutenant of 
Company E; was never wounded or captured; 




W. BEN PALMER. 

OPPOSITE PAGE leS 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 169 

served until May 17, 1865, and was pardoned at 
Winchester on that date. I was sixteen years old 
while at the Virginia Military Institute, and when 
we took the trip with General Jackson and joined 
Colonel Mosby, was seventeen years old. I was 
mentioned in report by Colonel Mosby to General 
Stuart (see War Records); Colonel Mosby to 
Major H. B. McClellan, General Stuart's chief of 
staff, February 21, 1864: 'While all acted well, with 
but few exceptions, it is a source of great pride to 
bring before your notice the names of some whose 
conspicuous gallantry renders their mention but a 
duty and a pleasure. They are Captain and Lieu- 
tenant Chapman, Lieutenants Fox and Richards, 
Sergeant Palmer * * * ^ 

"'(Signed.) John S. Mosby, 

" 'Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding.' 
"Yours very truly, 

"W. Ben Palmer." 



IN CAMDEN STREET HOSPITAL, BALTIMORE. 

I visited a great many wounded prisoners in the 
hospital in Baltimore, and found some of them 
beardless boys. It was dreadful to pass through 
rooms where these boys were lying side by side with 
men, many of whom looked as if they were unsuit- 
able companions for school boys. Seeing what 
harm this arrangement might bring, I said to the 
doctor, "Do you think it is right to put those inno- 
cent boys with thbse dreadful men? You are a 
Christian and a gentleman, as well as a Union man. 
I cannot believe you are willing to kill the soul and 



170 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

think it your duty to save the body." He said, 
"You are right, madam, I will arrange it differ- 
ently." I must give my testimony here to the per- 
fect impartiality with which the two doctors I met, 
Dr. Waters and Dr. Dixon, treated the wounded. 
I thought I could even see a gentler expression 
toward the prisoners. While in the ward with 
Federals, the boys often whispered, "Divide with 
the Yanks," saying, "we are enemies in the field, 
but comrades in the hospital." They were always 
cheerful, uncomplaining and hopeful. 

Of their courage and endurance one of the 
Seventy-eighth New York Volunteers (who enlisted 
in 1 86 1, at fifteen*) said to me: "At the battle of 
Cross Roads we captured many boys of from four- 
teen to eighteen. Their feet were bleeding and sore 
from marching without shoes; they were cold, 
ragged, hungry, but they fought like heroes. They 
were so brave that they did not know when they 
were whipped." He added: "No man who was 
fighting in that war can say that the Southern 
soldiers were not courageous and honorable men. 
Those who stayed at home making money can scorn 
them." 

Many of the Southern schools were closed, or if 
not the boys made the summer campaigns and in 
winter were always ready for emergencies. Even 
the professors went out, some as privates under their 
own student officers. Professor Gildersleeve, of the 
University of Virginia, now of Johns Hopkins, was 
wounded in battle, and often jestingly said his limp 
had more influence on his boys than his Latin. Four 

♦Frederick Flodt. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 171 

brothers served gallantly and faithfully in the great 
Army of Northern Virginia from beginning to close 
of the war. Prof. Basil Gildersleeve was on staff 
duty in the field, and received desperate wounds in 
the battles around Richmond ; the second, Benjamin, 
shared the well-won fame of the First Virginia 
Infantry ; and the younger, Gilbert, was a captain of 
cavalry with Stuart. The father of these noble 
brothers was a distinguished Presbyterian divine, 
educator, and writer of South Carolina; and their 
grandsire was an officer in the Continental Army. 

The boys of the North were not needed in the 
army. Many of them scarcely knew there was a 
war. The artillery was not thundering at their 
doors nor the incendiary torch threatening their 
homes. After the war one of Parker's Boy Battery 
was employed by a New York publishing house. 
An employee in the office, hearing a discussion on 
some battle, said, "There was quite a 'buzz' down 
there about that time, wasn't there?" The South- 
erner replied, "rather," and the conversation ended. 

Northern colleges were not closed, as can be seen 
by a telegram from Mr. Lincoln to his son during 
the conflict, quoted from the Nezv York Herald of 
September i8, 1892: 

"Robert T. Lincoln^ Cambridge, Mass. 

"Your letter makes us a little uneasy about your 
health. Telegraph us how you are. If you think 
it would help you, make us a visit. 

"A. Lincoln.'' 



172 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

When we contrast the life of Northern boys rest- 
ing at ease in the ordinary routine of life, with that 
of the young Southern soldiers called to defend that 
which they held most dear, at an age that needs all 
the safeguards of parents and home — cold, hungry, 
barefooted, worn with constant marches, sleeping 
in trenches or watchful sentry in the freezing nights ; 
sick, wounded, prisoners; dying, the streams red- 
dened with their blood; their bones whitening the 
battlefields where they fell — when we think of this 
we can hardly forgive the past. No result can 
palliate, no motive excuse it. 



W. D. PEAK. 



W. D. Peak, of Oliver Springs, Tenn., was born 
December 22, 1846, and volunteered in the Confed- 
erate service in August, 1 861, as a member of Com- 
pany A, Twenty-Sixth Tennessee Regiment. If 
there were any younger soldiers in the army as early 
as the time of his enlistment, Comrade Peak would 
like very much to hear from them. Give name, date 
of birth and date of enlistment. 



ONE OF GEORGIA S YOUNGEST SOLDIERS. 
MATTHEW J. MCDONALD. 

Matthew J. McDonald, nicknamed in his regi- 
ment "Mollie," enlisted in the summer of 1863 in 
Company I, First Georgia Cavalry, at the age of 
fourteen years. He served continuously with this 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 173 

regiment until January, 1865, when he was captured 
at Robertsville, S. C, and was kept a prisoner at 
Fort Delaware until about June, 1865. He went to 
Houston, Texas, in 1866, where he died of yellow 
fever October i, 1867. The accompanying picture 
was taken in Texas a short while before he died, at 
the age of eighteen years. While in Texas he gave 
his life during the fearful epidemic of 1867 to the 
care of the sick. His life there during the epidemic 
was like his war record, full of brave deeds and self- 
sacrifice. "Mollie" McDonald, of the First Georgia 
Cavalry, was a brave, daring cavalier. [I regret I 
have no picture. — Ed.] 



M. W. JEWETT. 



Dr. M. W. Jewett, Commander of the Ivanhoe 
Camp, U. C. v., No. 1507, of Ivanhoe, Va., has a 
fine record as one of the youngest Confederate 
soldiers regularly enlisted. He entered the service 
of the Confederacy when he was thirteen years old, 
enlisting as a private in the Fifty-ninth Virginia 
Infantry, and served at Charleston, S. C, in Florida, 
and finally at Petersburg, Va. In addition to being 
commander of his camp, he is assistant surgeon on 
the staff of Gen. James Macgill, commanding the 
Second Brigade of the Virginia Division, U. C. V. 



W. H. M DOWELL. 



W. H. McDowell was born in December, 1845. 
In August, 1863, he became a Cadet at the Virginia 



174 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Military Institute, and was killed in the charge of 
the corps of Cadets at the Battle of New Market, 
May 15, 1864. Only a few months at the Institute, 
Cadet McDowell had made a good standing, being 
twenty- fourth on general merit in a class numbering 
one hundred and eighty. As the corps charged 
through the fatal orchard, on Rood's Hill, he was 
shot dead, falling out of the line across a wounded 
comrade. A mere boy in age and in appearance, 
he offered up his life for his native land. 



UNKNOWN. 

Lieutenant Berkeley says : "As we entered 
Charlestown a small boy came out of a house and I 
called him to show me the way to the court-house. 
His eyes sparkled with excitement and he said: 
'Take me up behind you, and I will show you.' 
When we got near the court-house he said : 'As 
soon as you turn that corner you can see it.' I said 
to the youngster : 'Now, you get off, for they will 
fire on us as soon as they see us and you might be 
killed.' He replied: 'Oh, please let me go along 
with you; I am not afraid.' I had to pull him off 
my horse, and as he struck the ground he called after 
me: 'I am going, anyhow.' And he did, sure 
enough." 

UNKNOWN. 

I spent July, August and September at Graeffens- 
burg, a village between Gettysburg and Chambers- 
burg, One morning a soldier rode up at full speed, 
leading the smallest, most beautiful pony I had ever 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 175 

seen. It was dappled grey, with a long white tail 
and mane, and paced as fast as the soldier's horse 
could gallop. I asked the soldier where it came 
from, and he said it had belonged to the son of some 
Rebel officer, who had come over with his father, 
and been either killed or captured. I tried to buy 
it, but it had to be corralled with other captured 
horses, and was not sold before I left. I hope Mrs. 
General Couch, who was staying in the same house 
with me, bought it as I advised. I often wonder 
what was the rider's fate. He must have been not 
over ten or eleven years old to be carried by such a 
small animal. 



CAN T LEAVE IF THE BATTLE IS TO BEGIN. 

B. M. Zettler (of Eighth Georgia Regiment), 
Atlanta, Ga., writes of an incident that illustrates 
the spirit of our soldiers during the war for South- 
ern independence: 

"The seacoast and gulf cities had been stripped 
of every regiment that could possibly be spared, and 
the newspapers were appealing to all who were 
absent on furlough to return and save our beloved 
capital. Among such absentees was John Krenson, 
of Company B, Eighth Georgia Regiment, one of 
Bartow's 'beardless boys' from Savannah. He had 
been severely wounded in the memorable 'pine sap- 
ling' thicket at Manassas, and had never completely 
recovered from his wound. It was said, in fact, 
that his surgeon had pronounced him permanently 
disabled and unfit for further service in the field. 
But when the news came that McClellan's army was 
in sight of Richmond, he could stay no longer, and 



176 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

came to us, I think, about the time we took up our 
position at Price's farm, five miles from Richmond, 
and a short distance north of Nine-Mile road. The 
enemy's pickets were then less than three hundred 
yards in our front, and each succeeding morning 
they appeared in a new position and still nearer to 
us. As each day drew to its close, those of us on 
the picket line felt that the battle must certainly 
begin on the morrow. After a brief trial of his 
strength, Krenson had found that the surgeons were 
right. He could not stand active service, and a 
final discharge had been given to him. But he 
lingered in camp, and to each surprised inquiry as 
to why he did not go home he would reply with the 
question, *Do you think the battle will begin soon?' 
and to the invariable answer, 'Yes,' he would add, 
'Then I cannot leave now.' And so during two 
weeks he waited, thinking each day that the battle 
would occur ere the setting of another sun. 

"Finally, on the 26th of June, upon our extreme 
left at Mechanicsville, the battle was on. Friday, 
the 27th, it raged furiously and McClellan's right 
wing was doubled back at right angles to his original 
main line, and what that cautious leader's next move 
would be not even the astute Lee was able to guess. 

"Saturday came, and with it an order to General 
Magruder, holding our center across the Nine-Mile 
road, to make a demonstration against the enemy's 
lines in his front. 'Tige' Anderson's and Benning's 
Georgia Brigades were ordered forward. Com- 
panies A and B, of the Eighth Georgia, were 
ordered out as skirmishers to cover the front of the 
advancing column and drive in the enemy's pickets 
and sharp-shooters. Krenson was in his place in 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 177 

the skirmish line. The running fight was at short 
range, and almost at every step some one went 
down; and among the first to fall, a sacrifice to 
that attempt to *feel the enemy,' was brave, proud 
John Krenson. An honorable discharge in his 
pocket, a sharp-shooter's bullet in his heart, that 
brave, young soldier boy was 'off duty forever.' " 



AN OLD GRAY COAT OF TAN COLOR. 

During the reunion at Nashville there was on 
exhibition at general headquarters an old moth-eaten 
cloak made of some brown material and lined with 
red cloth that attracted more or less attention, and 
was left by the owner at the headquarters. A paper 
pinned to it stated that "This cloak was worn by 
Tom Triplett through the war. He was a member 
pf Stewart's Black Horse Cavalry. Enlisted when 
only fifteen years old and was so small that he could 
not mount with his equipments or without assist- 
ance. Comrade Triplett was born and reared in 
Fairfax County, now Alexandria, Va., and now 
lives at Pine Bluff, Ark." 



THREE BOY HEROES AT PERRYVILLE. 

Three brave boys — neither one over eighteen — 
while struggling to plant their flag on the battery, 
were cut down. An eye-witness describes it as 
most wonderful. A hand-to-hand fight was going 
on ; these boys plunged into the very jaws of death 
in the most heroic manner, grasping their flag-staff. 



178 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

The last one was Sergeant Johnnie Carter, a son of 
Dan F. Carter, of Nashville, Tenn. When found 
he was firmly holding- his flag, seeming loathe to 
g^ve it up. Little did the brave boy dream that a 
death wound had seized him. He manifested a 
beautiful devotion to the Southern cause. Leaving 
a home of luxury, only son of doting parents, only 
brother of a loving sister. Johnnie laid his young 
life on the altar of his country. He died at Har- 
rodsburg, Ky. His beloved surgeon. Dr. J. R. 
Buist. and his parents were with him. ministering 
tenderlv. 



T. G. BUSH. 



T. G. Bush was bom in Pickensville, Alabama. 
Entering the University of Alabama, he organized, 
in 1 86 1, when he was thirteen years old. two military 
companies to aid the Confederacy. Two years later 
he was adjutant of the corps of Cadets who were 
odered into the Confederate senace. In 1864 he 
became adjutant of the Fifty-second Alabama. In 
1865 he entered the University of Mississippi and 
had among his instructors the late Justice L. O. C 
Lamar and Dr. L. C. Garland, late president of the 
Vanderbilt University. He graduated in two years, 
his older brother taking first honors and he second 
honors. Going into business, he organized the firm 
of T. G. Bush & Co.. and in 1876 became president 
of the Mobile and Birmingham Railroad, which 
position he still holds. He was the first president 
of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, and has also 
been the executive head of a number of important 
enterprises in the South. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 179 

CHARLES R. NORRIS. 

Charles R. Norris, son of John Norris, of Lees- 
burg, Loudoun County, Va., was born on the 12th 
of May, 1844, and killed at the First Battle of 
Manassas, July 21, 1861. 

On the nth of August, i860, he entered the 
Virginia Military Institute as a Cadet from the 
county of Loudoun. In the spring of 1861 the war 
opened, and such a band of soldiers as the corps of 
Cadets, each one of them an accomplished officer, 
was of course at once called into service. The corps 
was ordered to Richmond ; but young Norris, being 
one of the youngest in years and experience, was 
detailed, with some forty or fifty others, to remain 
as a guard to the Institute buildings and State 
Arsenal at Lexington. After a very brief period 
he and some eight or ten others were ordered to 
report to Gen. T. J. Jackson, then commanding the 
post at Harper's Ferry. He was promptly on the 
spot, and was assigned to duty as a drill-master to 
the volunteers then rushing, all untrained and un- 
disciplined, at the call of their State. In the faithful 
and efficient discharge of the duties of his office he 
remained until the army, under Gen. J. E. Johnston, 
moved to the relief and support of General Beaure- 
gard, then about to engage the enemy in that first 
and terrible Battle of Manassas. Young Norris, 
though engaged as a drill-master, determined to go 
with the army. In the absence of the captain of 
one of the companies in Colonel John Echols's regi- 
ment, he was assigned to the command of the com- 
pany. General Johnston's army reached the bloody 
battle-ground in time to engage in the thickest of 



180 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

the fight, and to contribute largely to that great 
victory. In this battle Cadet Charles R. Norris 
lost his life in command of his company, and in 
advance of his men, leading them in a charge with 
the rallying and encouraging cry, ringing out midst 
the smoke and din of battle, "Come on, boys, quick, 
and we can whip them!" Just uttered he was struck 
by a ball which took an oblique course across his 
breast, killing him, it is supposed, instantly, although 
his body was not found until the next morning, 
when, among the dead, mangled, wounded, and 
dying, it was discovered in a search over that ghastly 
field by an elder brother, who was also a soldier in 
that fight, but passed the battle-storm unharmed, 
and on many other fields struck manfully to avenge 
the death of that boy soldier and brother-. Thus, 
belonging to no company, with his name not enrolled 
on any of the lists of the honored soldiers who 
fought and died for the "Lost Cause," did Charles 
R. Norris, only a little over seventeen years old, 
offer up his young life an oblation on the altar of 
his country. 

JOHN BAILEY TYLER. 

John Bailey Tyler, of Chicago, died in Chicago 
at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, after an illness of 
several weeks. Mr. Tyler, it is thought, was the 
youngest soldier in the Confederate Army who 
served throughout the war other than in the position 
of drummer boy. He enlisted when he was twelve 
years old as a cavalryman, serving throughout the 
war in D Troop of the First Maryland Confederate 
Cavalry. Mr. Tyler was born in Frederick, Md., 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 181 

in 1849. The fact that he was the youngest soldier 
in the command made him a pet among the officers 
and men. He was the son of Samuel Tyler, a 
lawyer of Frederick, and would have probably 
followed the same profession if he had not left his 
home to join the First Maryland at Winchester, Va., 
in 1862. During the war he was one of the most 
daring fighters, but among those who knew him 
most intimately it is thought that he was never 
injured. Since the war the veterans have heard but 
little of him, and they often wondered what had 
become of "the boy," as they called him. 



ANOTHER YOUNGEST SOLDIER, 

E. G, Baxter, of Clark County, Ky,, was born 
September 10, 1849; enlisted June 15, 1862; made 
second lieutenant July 5, 1863, Company A, Seventh 
Kentucky Cavalry, Morgan's command. 



THAT S WHY HIS CAPTOR OFFERED TO LEND HIM A 
BATHING SUIT, 

An interesting story is told illustrative of the 
belief of Union soldiers that many women disguised 
themselves as men and fought in the Confederate 
Army, George W, Logan was only seventeen years 
old when he was taken prisoner in an attack on 
Fort Cannon. He was very slender, but deep- 
chested, and very girlish in his appearance, being 
fair, with high color and wearing his long, light- 
brown hair brushed straight back and unparted. 



182 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Taken to Point Lookout and later to City Point, he 
attracted the attention of an officer of the escort. 
The Federal officer treated the youthful prisoner 
with as much courtesy as circumstances permitted, 
frequently conversing with him. One day the 
officer asked to be told the truth regarding the 
belief among Federal soldiers that many women 
were serving in the Confederate Army, some of 
them being types of the best of Southern woman- 
hood. Mr. Logan said it was not true, but he had 
heard, in common with others, that a few women 
had so served. The Federal officer was thoughtful 
for a while after the conversation referred to, and 
then urged the prisoner to forswear the Confederacy 
and go to the officer's Pennsylvania home. "I can 
arrange it without trouble," said the officer, "and 
my people will receive you and treat you like one 
of the family." A dozen times or more the Federal 
officer urged the point. "I subsequently learned," 
said Mr. Logan, "that he believed I was a girl, and 
that it was for that reason that he wanted me to go 
to Pennsylvania. He never intimated such a reason 
to me, but my information came in a way that 
seemed to be reliable, and then it was that I under- 
stood why, before our conversation about women, 
he had offered to procure me a bathing suit if I 
wished to go swimming at any time." 



THE LATE EX-GOV. SEAY. 



In the death of Ex-Gov. Thomas Seay, which 
occurred at his home in Greensboro, on Monday 
last, Alabama has lost an able and devoted son. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 183 

He had just reached his fiftieth year, and would, 
doubtless, have been crowned with further honors 
by the people of Alabama had he lived. Ex-Gov. 
Seay was but seventeen years of age when he 
enlisted in the Confederate Army, and served to the 
close of the war. 



LEWIS HARMAN 



Lewis Harman was born in Staunton, Virginia, 
December, 1845. He enlisted in the Fifty-second 
Virginia Regiment and was elected lieutenant. At 
the battle of Port Republic he was wounded, but 
when fit for duty joined the Twelfth Virginia 
Cavalry and was soon afterwards made adjutant; 
he was promoted to captain by General Rosser for 
gallantry. On the 5th of May he was wounded and 
captured in a fight between Rosser's brigade and 
Wilson's division. He was carried to Fort Dela- 
ware and was one of the six hundred Confederates 
who were selected by the Federals to be placed under 
the Confederate fire at Morris Island, South Caro- 
lina, in front of the attacking party. It was sug- 
gested by the United States officer in command that 
a flag of truce should be sent to the Confederates 
accompanied by one of the prisoners to explain the 
danger of his comrades. The prisoners unanimously 
declared that any one thus sent would urge the Con- 
federates to fire regardless of their position, one very 
young officer saying, "Our lives are offered to our 
country and it matters very little by what shot we 



184 I^oy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

fall."* Captain Harman was, with his comrades, 
taken back to Fort Delaware, where he was held till 
the June following the surrender of Appomattox. 



PELHAM 

When the boy Pelham, with one gun, checked 
Burnside's advance on Fredericksburg, Stonewall 
Jackson exclaimed : "Give me more men and fewer 
orders; give me 50,000 I\ihanis and 1 will subju- 
gate the world I" 

JAMES W. THOMSON 

James W. Thomson was born at Berryville, Clarke 
County, Virginia, on the 28th of October. 1843. He 
entered the Virginia Military Institute in i860, 
where his education was soon interrupted by the 
commencement of the late war. He promptly offered 
his services for the defense of his State, and was 
employed as drill-master until just prior to the Battle 
of Manassas, in which he acted as volunteer aide-de- 
camp to Gen. T. J. Jackson, For important service 
rendered in this action he received a flattering letter 
of recommendation from that General. In the fall 
of 1 861 he was elected second lieutenant of Chew's 
Battery of Horse Artillery, and in February, 1864, 
succeeded to the command of the company. During 
the same year he was promoted, and commanded, 
with the rank of major, a battalion of horse artillery 
attached to Rosser's cavalrv division until his death. 



♦His name was not given, but I guess. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 185 

Thomson was, by his early training and dispo- 
sition, well fitted, even at the age of seventeen, when 
he entered the service, for the peril and hardships of 
a soldier's life. He was always devoted to out-door 
sports, and became, by constant practice, a perfect 
master of the horse. Tall and athletic, with a nature 
bold and daring, frank and generous in disposition — 
these qualifications, united to great physical strength 
and powers of endurance, presented a combination of 
soldierly traits possessed by few. As a commander 
of artillery he was remarkable for the prompt and 
daring manner of handling his guns. When his 
guns were not in action, it was frequently a habit 
with Thomson to join in the cavalry charge, and on 
such occasions attracted attention by his dash and 
almost reckless gallantry. It was while leading 
charges of this kind that he was wounded in the arm. 
on the 5th of April, 1865, and on the day following 
was killed. A gallant attack was made on this day 
by General Rosser upon a brigade of Federal infan- 
try, which had succeeded in gaining the front of 
Lee's army, near Farmville, and during the fight a 
charge was made by Dearing's brigade. A desperate 
encounter ensued, resulting in the rout of the enemy, 
but at a great sacrifice of life; and General Bearing, 
Colonel Boston and Major Thomson all lost their 
lives. 

Major Thomson acted in this fight with conspicu- 
ous gallantry, and fell where he was always found 
when duty called — at the head of the column. By 
his fall, his family and numerous friends sustained 
an irreparable loss, and his State was deprived of 
one of her most gallant sons. 

CoL. R, Preston Chew. 



186 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

PHILIP F. FRAZER 

Philip Fouke Frazer was born in Lewisburg", 
Greenbrier County, Virginia, on the 22d of Decem- 
ber, 1844, the youngest son of James A. and Sophia 
Frazer, In early childhood his gentleness of man- 
ner, his brightness and intelligence, rendered him a 
favorite with all who knew him. He was as modest 
and gentle as a girl, and yet possessed all those manly 
qualities which later in life, though still at an early 
age, made him the gallant officer and devoted patriot. 

His early education was received at a girl's school 
in Lewisburg; here, when he reached the age at 
which boys were excluded from the school, so refined 
and gentle was he that his teacher said he should 
remain her scholar so long as he might choose to 
attend her school. 

He was appointed a Cadet of the Virginia Mili- 
tary Institute in i860, and reported for duty on the 
19th of July of that year. He soon attracted the 
attention of his professors by his industry and 
brightness, and won the hearts of his comrades by 
his open, generous disposition and manly traits of 
character. In April, 1861, the corps of Cadets was 
ordered to Richmond, and proceeded thither under 
the command of General Jackson, to assist in drilling 
and disciplining the raw troops which were being 
concentrated there. Cadet Frazer remained at this 
camp of instruction for several months, as drill- 
master; but, though in consequence of his extreme 
youth and delicate appearance he could, doubtless, 
have readily secured a position which would have 
withdrawn him from the dangers of battle, the gal- 
lant young soldier would accept no such position, nor 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 187 

could he reconcile himself to the discharge of the 
monotonous duties of a drill-master when the 
soldiers of his State were confronting the enemy; 
and every day brought to him the intelligence of 
another battle fought. Leaving the camp of instruc- 
tion then, he entered the Greenbrier Rifles, Company 
E, Twenty-seventh Virginia Infantry, as a private. 
In a very short time, though only sixteen years of 
age, he was elected first lieutenant of his company. 
So gallant was his bearing, and such the soldierly 
qualities which he had displayed, that when his regi- 
ment was reorganized he was elected captain of his 
company, which position he held for two years. In 
the spring of 1863 Captain Frazer was promoted 
major of his regiment. On several occasions, even 
while captain, he led his regiment into battle. In 
every battle in which his great commander, Stone- 
wall Jackson, was engaged, except those around 
Richmond, when he was forced to be absent by sick- 
ness, he did his duty as a man and soldier. Through 
all he passed unscathed, until, at Second Manassas, 
he received a painful but not dangerous wound. 
In the battle near Wilderness Run, May 6, 1864, the 
very day on which he received his commission as 
lieutenant-colonel, this brave young officer fell, at the 
head of his regiment, shot through the head with a 
musket ball, and died while being removed from the 
field. Not an unworthy pupil of the noble Jackson, 
he laid down his life near the spot where that grand 
old hero received his death-wound. His name from 
childhood had been linked with all that is kind, 
loving, generous and true. At the time of his death 
he was but nineteen, perhaps the youngest officer of 
his rank in the whole army, yet the most distin- 



188 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

guished officer of his regiment. Men of unques- 
tionable courage and daring say that he was the most 
gallant and coolly brave man they ever knew. He 
lived without fear and without reproach, died as a 
true soldier, and is mourned as a devoted patriot, an 
efficient officer, a dutiful and affectionate son. The 
prop and support of his widowed mother and young- 
est sister, he unselfishly devoted to them the greater 
portion of the pay he received. In his last letter to 
his mother, received after he had gained his soldier's 
crown, he sent her all he had, hoping, with tender 
solicitude, that it might help her till he could send 
her more. His body was interred at Hollywood by 
the side of his idolized sister, Mrs. George E. 
Taylor. United in life, in death they were not 
divided — one monument telling their story. 



GEORGE MURRAY GILL, JR. 

George Murray Gill, Jr., of Baltimore, left Prince- 
ton College and entered the Confederate service in 
1862. He joined the First Virginia Cavalry when 
they were about to charge a regiment of United 
States Regulars — when he had only a halter on his 
horse and was without pistol or sabre. He was 
wounded at Chantilly the day after the Second Battle 
of Bull Run. Was ill at Gettysburg and taken 
prisoner at Hagerstown. Spent five dreary months 
at Fort Delaware, and was then exchanged, and 
joined Mosby's command. He was wounded March 
30, 1865, and died a few days later, in Virginia, after 
the surrender. His mother and sister started at 
once to nurse him, but as they crossed the Shenan- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 189 

doah River were told of his death. They made 
arrangements to take his remains to Baltimore, but 
after the assassination of President Lincoln the 
authorities stopped all trains and would not allow 
even a coffin taken through the lines. They sent up 
the mountain for the farmer, in whose house he had 
died, and gave him all they had brought from home 
for the wounded boy and learned from him the sad 
details of his death. He said: "George Murray 
Gill was glad to die for his country." His cousin, 
John Gill, read at his burial in Virginia the beautiful 
service of the Episcopal Church. His body was 
brought to Baltimore later and laid to rest in the 
family lot in Greenmount. 

"On time's eternal camping-ground 

Their silent tents are spread, 
And memory guards with solemn round 
The bivouac of the dead." 



GRIM HUMOR 



Ten days after the Battle of Gettysburg we .were 
at Graeffensburg, formerly a water-cure, the bath- 
houses still standing, with a large pool of ice-cold 
water brought from the mountains by primitive 
wooden troughs. The walls were whitewashed and 
covered with inscriptions and names of soldiers of 
both armies. The following was most striking, 
showing the gaiety with which they went to the 
terrible conflict: 

"July 3- General Lee's great circus will exhibit 
at Gettysburg tomorrow. General Early's famous 



190 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

equestrian troop will perform its usual feats of 

daring and agility." 

[Signed by men of a Mississippi regiment.] 
Under this : 
"July 4th. In consequence of accidents to the 

performers, the troop has returned to Richmond." 

[Signed by Northern soldiers, names and rank for- 
gotten.] 
This was enclosed in a circle and the owner of the 

place said it should never be obliterated. 



THOMAS BOOKER TREDWAY 

Thomas Booker Tredway, son of Judge William 
M. Tredway, of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, was 
born in Danville, Virginia, on the 13th of August, 
1844. 

In the month of April, 1861, being not quite 
seventeen years of age, he joined a volunteer com- 
pany organized at Pittsylvania Court House, where 
he then resided. In May this company was ordered 
to Yorktown and attached to a Virginia infantry 
regiment under the command of Gen. John B. Ma- 
gruder for about 12 months. Young Tredway was 
with his command in all service during this period, 
acting gallantly in the Battle of Bethel. 

In the spring he was discharged from the army on 
account of his extreme youth and sent to the Vir- 
ginia Military Institute, where he remained until 
1863, when he rejoined his old company at Suffolk 
and served through the summer campaign, and pass- 
ing with it into Pennsylvania he was mortally 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 191 

wounded and left on the field of Gettysburg. It is 
supposed he soon died of his wounds, alone, as 
nothing was ever heard of him. He was not nine- 
teen when he died — not old enough to have accom- 
plished very much. Death prevented the fulfilment 
of a noble prospect of usefulness and distinction. 



BASIL G. DABNEY 



Basil Gordon Dabney was born on the 29th of 
October, 1847. He was the eldest son of Major Wil- 
liam S. Dabney and Susan F. Dabney, nee Gordon. 
He was born in Albemarle County, where his parents 
resided, and was taught at home under the instruc- 
tion of a private tutor until 1859, when he was sent 
to the neighboring school of Captain Willoughby 
Tebbs, where he remained until Captain Tebbs en- 
tered the army, in the beginning of the war. After 
this he continued his studies at home until the latter 
part of 1864, when he entered the Virginia Military 
Institute, then located temporarily at Richmond. In 
February, 1865, thinking it his duty to go into serv- 
ice, he left the Institute and joined Thompson's Bat- 
tery of Horse Artillery, which was then disbanded 
for the winter. About the last of March he received 
orders to report at Petersburg. He reached Rich- 
mond on the 2d of April, — the day before the city 
was evacuated, — and finding his company not yet re- 
organized, together with his captain, James Thomp- 
son, and other members of his company, he joined 
temporarily the Second Virginia Cavalry, and was 
with that regiment on the retreat. 



192 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

On Thursday, the 6th of April, 1865, when a 
number of Confederate bag-gage- wagons were at- 
tacked near Farmville, in Prince Edward County, 
the 2d Virginia Cavalry was ordered to their defense. 
A severe fight ensued, and in it young Dabney re- 
ceived a wound in the right leg, just below the knee. 
The surgeon to whose care he was entrusted deemed 
amputation necessary. Owing to the carelessness of 
the surgeon (who was intoxicated) the chloroform 
was improperly administered, and the poor boy never 
rallied from the operation, but died that evening, — 
April 6, 1865, — aged seventeen years and nearly six 
months. 

Basil Dabney when at school had proved himself 
a hard student. He was naturally fond of reading 
and study, and was always at the head of his classes. 
By his teacher he was deemed a youth of very great 
promise. His family and friends had looked with 
hope to the fulfilment of this promise. But it was 
not to be so. Only four days a soldier, his life was 
borne away on the dying groan of the Southern 
Confederacy. 

JOHN OPIE 

John Opie, only seventeen years of age, a son of 
Hiram Opie, of Staunton, Virginia, was given a 
gold medal on the field of Manassas by Jefferson 
Davis for distinguished bravery. After fighting fu- 
riously all day he pursued the retreating columns, 
capturing a fine horse which he presented to his 
major. He fought gallantly until the end of the 
war and has written a most interesting and amusing 
account of his experiences, "A Confederate Caval- 
ryman." 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 193 

BOY FROM bee's BRIGADE 

Opie says : "When Bee's brigade was driven 
from the field a boy was shot in the forehead and 
died without a groan. He did not tell us his name 
but simply asked if he could fall in with our com- 
pany. Poor boy, he died like a hero, among 
strangers." 

EX-CONFEDERATES IN CONGRESS 

Among the ex-Confederates in Congress who took 
action on the death of General Gordon were John 
W. Maddox, of Georgia, who enlisted in the Con- 
federate Army at the age of fifteen, and served as 
private until the end of the war; and Robert W. 
Davis, of Florida, who entered the Confederate 
Army at the age of fourteen, and surrendered with 
the army of General Joseph E. Johnston, at the 
close of the war. 

JOHN GILL 

General John Gill, of Baltimore, entered the Con- 
federate service at eighteen. His experience during 
the war has been graphically told by himself in his 
"Reminiscences of Four Years as a Private Soldier." 
General Fitzhugh Lee writes of him as follows : 

"John Gill, of Baltimore, served at my headquar- 
ters and near my side for the greater part of the w^ar 
from 1861 to 1865. He was one of a number of 
heroic Marylanders who left their homes to join 
and do service on behalf of the South. I had him 
detailed to report to me because I had been informed 



194 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

that he was a good soldier and performed all the 
duties confided to him in a satisfactory manner. 
I first assigned him to duty as a courier and after- 
wards promoted him to be sergeant in the Division 
Signal Corps. I found him active, vigilant, ener- 
getic, and courageous in the various encounters be- 
tween my command and the Federal cavalry. I am 
correctly quoted as having stated years ago that I 
would be glad to lead in a fight 5,000 men like John 
Gill against 10,000 of the enemy. He should know 
what he is writing about [referring to General Gill's 
book], because whenever the opportunity occurred 
his place in the war picture was near the flashing of 
the guns." 



PETER R. BEASLEY 



Peter R. Beasley, son of Dr. Jas. A. Beasley, was 
born near Huntsville, Alabama, on the i6th of July, 
1844. In his boyhood he was noted for his firmness, 
self-reliance, and energy; which traits characterized 
him in a marked degree as he approached manhood. 

He entered the Virginia Military Institute in the 
fall of i860, and remained there until the suspension 
of the school in the spring of 1861, when he went 
with the battalion of cadets to Richmond, and 
served there as a drill-master until the First Battle 
of Manassas. 

Returning then to Huntsville, he joined the Thir- 
ty-fifth Alabama Infantry, in which regiment he 
served as a private for some time, and was then 
promoted first lieutenant. In this capacity he served 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 195 

until, at the Battle of Corinth, in 1862, he received a 
severe wound in the leg, which obliged him to return 
to his home for some time. Returning from his 
furlough, he served with his regiment in all its 
duties, an efficient and trusty officer, until the 4th 
of July, 1864, On that day he was engaged in 
throwing up breastworks near Marietta, Georgia. 
During the progress of the work Lieutenant Beasley 
mounted the parapet to see that it was more effici- 
ently done. Repeatedly warned of his imminent 
danger, he continued cool in the discharge of what 
he considered his duty, until he was shot down by a 
ball breaking his leg. 

Persistently refusing to have the limb amputated, 
he would not consent to have chloroform adminis- 
tered by the surgeons who examined his wound un- 
less they gave their word of honor that they would 
not amputate the limb while he was unconscious. 
He was removed to Forsyth, Georgia, where after 
lingering for three weeks in intense suffering, borne 
with soldierly fortitude, he died on the 25th of July, 
1864, aged twenty years and nine days. 

Lieutenant Beasley's decided character, clear and 
vigorous intellect, and purity of morals gave promise 
that he would have become a man of mark had he 
escaped the perils of war, sed dis aliter visum est. 

Deeply beloved by family and friends, the follow- 
ing tribute to his memory, from the pen of a lady 
friend, must show, as best it can, that estimation : 

"The memory of our noble patriot boy 
Shall build the temple of our country's fame, 
Each one a classic stone, a sacred name. 
And here, in after-years to come, 
We'll bring our little ones to learn 
The names that make us great." 



196 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

ALEXANDER LYLE 

The subject of this brief sketch was born October 
14, 1844, at the place called Timber Ridge, in Char- 
lotte County, Virginia, then the residence of his 
maternal grandfather, Dr. A. D. Alexander. It was 
in this part of the State, not far from the graves of 
Henry and Randolph, that young Lyle passed his 
early years and received his early schooling. From 
the first he manifested a fondness for books, having 
learned to read when only three years old. Alex- 
ander was the son of A, A. and Mary Q. Lyle, both 
of Scotch-Irish blood, and descended from ances- 
tors who formed a part of the colony that settled the 
Valley of Virginia. 

In the year 1861, Lyle, then a lad of hardly more 
than sixteen, entered the Military Institute at Lex- 
ington, where he remained under the manly tutelage 
and strict discipline of that well-known institution 
until the cadets were ordered to the front, and, aban- 
doning their tents and barracks and the daily spec- 
tacle of mimic war, followed their brave leader to 
the scene of actual conflict. Fired with the same 
patriotic thirst for distinction, Lyle was eager to be 
of the number of those ardent young spirits who 
were taken to the field; but, in consequence of his 
immature years, he was denied this privilege (as he 
regarded it), and advised to bide his time, and in the 
meanwhile to be content to serve his country in other 
and less conspicuous ways. He joined the command 
of Colonel Mosby. This was before he had reached 
his seventeenth birthday. He continued dutifully at 
his post till the summer of 1863, when he was mor- 
tally wounded in a cavalry fight at Warrenton June- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 197 

tion. In this condition he fell into the hands of the 
enemy, by whom he was carried to Alexandria, where 
he died in hospital in the month of June of that year, 
and was decently buried in the neighboring ceme- 
tery. Just one year had elapsed since his devoted 
brother, Captain Matthew Lyle, fell in battle at 
Gaines's Mills, after greatly exposing his person, 
and while leading his company in a gallant and 
successful movement against the enemy's works. 

The younger Lyle died composedly in his bed 
about two o'clock in the afternoon, surrounded by 
ministrations of kindness and sympathy. Conscious, 
and notified by the United States chaplain, who at- 
tended him to the last, that the change was approach- 
ing, he asked that he might not be left alone. When 
it came, he met it with fortitude and resignation, 
and passed away without visible pain or struggle. 
The evening before he had had a long and free 
conversation with a minister of the gospel, in 
which he spoke more fully than he had up to that 
time ventured to do on religious subjects. The 
truth of the gospel and his own deep need of it 
seemed apparent to him. He expressed a determi- 
nation to continue to pray for mercy and salvation, 
as he had done. He dwelt with fondness on the 
remembrance of his father, his friends, his home, 
but uttered no complaint that it was his lot to die 
among strangers. He was tenderly cared for to the 
sad end, and received the last offices of Christian 
benevolence at the hands of those with whom resent- 
ment had melted into admiring pity. Alexander 
Lyle sleeps side by side with his Northern adver- 
saries, and, when flesh and heart were failing, re- 



198 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

ceived this unsolicited and unlooked-for tribute from 
the stranger, "A brave and noble young man." 

Rev. H. C. Alexander, D. D. 



BERKELEY MINOR 



Berkeley Minor was born October 6, 1842, at 
Edgewood, Hanover County, Virginia, the son of 
Lucius Horatio and Catharine Frances Berkeley 
Minor. After education in private schools, mostly 
at home, he entered the University of Virginia in 
October, 1859, winning honorable success during 
two sessions, and in July, 1861, enlisted in the Rock- 
bridge Artillery, Of this celebrated company he 
continued a member until April 15, 1864, when he 
was made a sergeant in Company I, First Regiment 
Engineer Troops (Col. T. M. R. Talcott), Army 
of Northern Virginia. The following November he 
was made lieutenant in the Second Regiment and 
assigned to Company H, which he commanded until 
the close of the war, the other officers being absent 
sick, or on detached service. He surrendered at 
Appomattox, thus closing a career as a soldier hon- 
orable throughout for gallantry and patient fidelity 
to duty, and one to which his friends never recur 
without pride. 

Mr. Minor remained on his plantation in Hanover 
for some years after the war, but in 1871 became a 
master in the Episcopal High School of Virginia, 
near Alexandria, which position he retained for 
eight years. While there, in 1875, he married Susan 
Watson Fontaine, daughter of James Fontaine, of 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 199 

Hanover. Since 1879 Mr. Minor has held a profes- 
sorship in the Virginia Female Institute at Staun- 
ton, the position he now occupies. 

L. M. B. 

G. JULIAN PRATT 

G. Julian Pratt entered the military service of 
Virginia, a youth of eighteen, as a private in the 
Sons of Liberty, a company composed of students 
of the University of Virginia, commanded by Cap- 
tain James Tosh, of Petersburg. This company 
formed a part of Major Carr's battalion under Gen- 
eral Harper, and saw their first service in the cap- 
ture of Harper's Ferry. After a short campaign 
the students were ordered to their Alma Mater and 
disbanded. In July, 1861, he enlisted in the service 
of the Confederate States, as second sergeant of the 
University Volunteers, commanded by Capt. James 
Parran Crane, now Judge Crane, of St. Mary's 
County, Maryland. They reported to General Wise 
and were assigned to the Fifty-ninth Virginia Infan- 
try as Company G. The men and officers of this 
company were honorably discharged July 13, 1862, 
but he, reporting to General Wise at Norfolk, Vir- 
ginia, was by him commissioned captain and as- 
signed to enlisting and organizing a company of 
marine artillery for the defense of Roanoke Island. 
He was captured February 9, 1862, and confined on 
the prison ship 5". R. Spaulding until paroled. After 
his exchange, with the consent and by the advice of 
General Wise, he reported to Colonel John D. Im- 
boden and enlisted in the First Regiment of Par- 
tizan Rangers. In connection with Francis Marion 



200 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Imboden he raised, inside the enemy's Hnes, a com- 
pany of cavalry, armed and equipped from the Fed- 
erals, and which became Company H of the Eigh- 
teenth Virginia Cavalry, and December ii, 1862, 
Julian Pratt was commissioned first lieutenant and 
F. M. Imboden, captain. At this time the Partizan 
Rangers were transferred to regular service, and 
Colonel John D. Imboden promoted to be brigadier- 
general. Lieutenant Pratt served gallantly until the 
close of the war, was wounded twice and had five 
horses shot under him — three in one battle, that of 
Winchester. He commanded the company in 1863, 
and in 1864 was made captain of Company A, 
Eighteenth Virginia Cavalry. He commanded the 
squadron composed of A and H companies of Im- 
boden's brigade, Lomax's division of cavalry, in 
the Army of Northern Virginia. 



FRANCIS MARION IMBODEN 

Francis Marion Imboden was a cadet at the Vir- 
ginia Military Institute, April 16, 1861, and was then 
eighteen years of age. He was assigned as drill- 
master, and served in this capacity at Camp Lee, 
Richmond, Virginia, until some time in the early 
fall of 1 86 1, when he was ordered to General Henry 
A. Wise, commanding in West Virginia, who as- 
signed him to the command of a company known 
as the "Ben McCullock Rangers," which was one 
of the components of the Fifty-ninth Virginia Vol- 
unteers. He continued in command of the company 
until the Battle of Roanoke Island, when he was 
transferred to the First Virginia Partizan Rangers, 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 201 

and in connection with Lieutenant G. Julian Pratt, 
he enHsted a company of cavalry inside the lines of 
the enemy, and was commissioned captain, Decem- 
ber II, 1862. An educated soldier and extremely 
gallant man, he commanded this company frequently 
on detached service, attacking the enemy's outposts, 
and made a splendid reputation for himself and his 
command until captured in the Battle of Piedmont, 
June 5, 1864. He remained in prison at Johnson's 
Island until the close of the war. 



P. H. GRANDY 



P. H. Grandy, son of A. W. Grandy, Esq., of 
Norfolk, Virginia, entered the Virginia Military 
Institute in October, 1859, being sixteen years old. 
Went into service as drill-master with the Corps of 
Cadets in April, 1861. Was appointed first lieu- 
tenant in a North Carolina regiment, and served as 
such until killed in the battles around Richmond, in 
June, 1862, in the nineteenth year of his age. 



JULIAN B. HARDY 



Julian B. Hardy, son of P. A. Hardy, Esq., of 
New Orleans, Louisiana, was born in that city on 
the 1 8th of March, 1842. In August, 1858, he en- 
tered the Virginia Military Institute, together with 
his younger brother, H. F. Hardy, and made such 
excellent progress in his studies that at the end of 
his first session he stood third distinguished in his 



202 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

class. During the next session the brothers were 
called home, and at the opening- of hostilities Julian 
enlisted in the Crescent Regiment, commanded by 
Colonel Marshall J. Smith, and served with it faith- 
fully performing his duty as a soldier. For con- 
spicuous bravery at Shiloh he was promoted to a 
lieutenancy, which position he held until killed at 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 20, 1862, in the 
twentieth year of his age. 



RANDOLPH BRADLEY 



The subject of this sketch was born in Page 
County, Virginia, on the 28th of May, 1842, and 
was connected on both sides with the best families 
in the State. When young Bradley was three years 
of age, his father, William Bradley, Esq., removed 
to the West, and settled in the interior of Missouri. 
Here Randolph attended district schools, showing 
considerable proficiency in mathematics. Among 
his schoolmates he was remarkable for his love of 
truth and high sense of honor. In his nineteenth 
year he entered the Virginia Military Institute, this 
being in the autumn of i860. The following April 
he was sent with the Cadets to Richmond to act as 
drill-master. In this service he was engaged for 
three months. He then determined to enter the ser- 
vice of his adopted State, which had seceded about 
this time; but, upon reaching Memphis, Tennessee 
(whither he had gone with dispatches for General 
Floyd), he found it impossible to get through the 
enemy's line, and therefore returned to Smyth 
County, in southwestern Virginia. Volunteering 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 203 

here in the Smyth Blues, he was with them in all 
their marches and other mihtary services until the 
latter part of December, i86r, when he received 
an appointment as second lieutenant in the Confed- 
erate States Army, and was assigned to duty in the 
Fourteenth Louisiana Infantry. In the course of a 
few months, Lieutenant Bradley was promoted first 
lieutenant and adjutant. At the battle of Williams- 
burg he acted as aide-de-camp to General Pryor, was 
slightly wounded, and so distinguished himself for 
his coolness and gallantry that he was mentioned 
in the general's report of the battle as deserving 
promotion. At the Battle of Seven Pines he was 
promoted captain in the Fourteenth Louisiana, then 
commanded by Col. R. W. Jones. In this capacity 
he served until he fell mortally wounded, leading 
his company in battle, during the great Seven Days' 
fight around Richmond, on the 27th of June, 1862. 

The regiment was ordered to storm a battery, and 
in so doing was cut to pieces, every officer save three, 
and two-thirds of the privates, being killed. Colonel 
Jones, in speaking of Captain Bradley, says, "He 
displayed great courage and coolness on the field of 
battle, and lost his life by no rash act of bravery.'' 
He was taken from the field of carnage to the house 
of Colonel Fry, in Richmond, where he was tenderly 
cared for by loving friends, the Rev. Dr. Minne- 
gerode offering him spiritual comfort in his last 
moments. He expired on the next day, June 28, 
1862, and his remains now sleep in Hollywood 
Cemetery, with the proud city he died to defend 
his only monument. 

His immediate family were no laggards in patri- 
otism — one brother losing his life in the Mexican 



204 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

war, another dying a lieutenant-colonel in the Con- 
federate Army, and a younger brother being a soldier 
in the Missouri State Guard. 

Laying down his life before he had reached the 
age of manhood, Captain Bradley had yet endeared 
himself to friends, and proved himself so worthy, 
that they shall ever dwell on his noble deeds and 
glory in his memory. In personal appearance he 
was tall and commanding; his finely formed head 
was covered with dark-brown hair, and his deep- 
blue eye was penetrating and intelligent. Strong 
in frame, bold in disposition, he was kind, benevo- 
lent, and humane; and in his sense of right and 
regard for duty was as unyielding as the fiat of 
Heaven. 



HENRY GOODRIDGE SPEED 

"Henry Goodridge Speed, youngest son of John 
Joseph and Anna Strachan Speed, was born at Rose- 
land, Granville County, North Carolina, August 19, 
1845. He received his primary education at the 
'Belmont Select School,' and in 1862 entered as a 
cadet the Virginia Military Institute. The writer 
of this notice, then on his way to the Institute, met 
Speed for the first time at Lynchburg, and traveled 
with him, and many others who were hastening to 
become 'Rats,' to Lexington. Speed was the life 
and soul of the party, ready and anxious for any 
adventure which promised fun and amusement, and 
provided there was a little danger so much the bet- 
ter. When we arrived at Lexington, as a matter of 
course we became legitimate prey for the old cadets ; 
many of whom imagining that a residence of twelve 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 205 

months at the Virginia Military Institute suppHed 
all deficiencies of mother wit, would, upon the an- 
nouncement of the arrival of a new cadet, immedi- 
ately proceed to his quarters to amuse themselves 
with his greenness. Many of those who came to 
Speed on this occasion for wool went away shorn. 
So brilliant were his repartees, and so confounded 
his would-be tormentors at having the tables turned 
upon them in this unexpected and unprecedented 
manner, that we, his more timid comrades, escaped 
with comparatively slight punishment. He became 
at once a universal favorite, and when, at the end 
of a year, he severed his connection with the Insti- 
tute, there was not a man in the battalion who was 
not distressed at his going. After leaving Lexing- 
ton, he joined the Third Virginia Cavalry, and in 
the spring of 1864 was transferred to the First 
North Carolina Cavalry. On the 21st of August, 
1864, in an engagement at Poplar Springs Church, 
near the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, he re- 
ceived a shrapnel-shot in his heart, and his spirit 
took its flight for the happy mansions prepared by a 
kind and merciful Father for those who die in de- 
fense of the Right and of Truth. 

"One of his last acts is illustrative of his character. 
His application for leave of absence had been ap- 
proved, and he was preparing to visit his friends and 
relations at home, when a comrade received infor- 
mation that his wife was at death's door, urging 
him to come at once if he would see her alive. Speed, 
with his usual generosity, immediately gave his fur- 
lough to his comrade, and it was whilst serving in 
this comrade's stead that he met his death; thus 



206 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

crowning a life of honor and nobility with an act 
of which an angel might be proud. 

"He was recommended for promotion, but was 
killed before he could receive the fruits of his gal- 
lant conduct on many a hard- fought battlefield. 

"Three bosom friends left the Virginia Military 
Institute together, gallant, noble, chivalrous. Char- 
lie Haigh died leading his regiment to victory at 
the Battle of the Wilderness; his peer, Gardner 
McCance, manfully serving his piece, sank to rise 
no more; and Henry Speed, while serving for a 
friend received a bullet through his heart." 



ERASMUS STRIBLING TROUT 

Erasmus Stribling Trout, of Staunton, Virginia, 
was the eldest child of Hon. N. K. Trout and Ma- 
tilda Stribling, his wife. He was born in April, 
1844, and was only seventeen when the Civil War 
occurred. With the earnestness of his nature he 
became interested in the Confederate cause and 
would at once have entered the army, but his friends 
feared that his delicate constitution could not with- 
stand the hardships and exposures of field service. 
He was sent to the Virginia Military Institute in 
i86r, with the view of completing his studies and 
with the hope that the admirable physical training 
there enforced would render him somewhat robust. 
He remained there until the corps was disbanded, 
in July, 1 86 1. Without delay he attached himself 
to the Fifty-second Virginia Infantry in the capacity 
of a drill-master, wherein he displayed great effi- 
ciency. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 207 

He returned to the Virginia Military Institute in 
January, 1862, when the Institute was opened by 
order of the Governor of Virginia. He was a mem- 
ber of the Corps of Cadets when the latter was 
ordered to march with General T. J. Jackson's army 
to Franklin. 

When he left the Virginia Military Institute he 
entered the ranks of the Fifty-second Virginia Regi- 
ment. Colonel James H. Skinner, then command- 
ing, appointed him the sergeant-major of the regi- 
ment. "For conspicuous gallantry in the battle of 
Cedar Mountain," August, 1862, he was promoted 
to the rank of second lieutenant in Company H, 
Fifty-second Virginia Regiment. 

After the battle of Sharpsburg he was further 
promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. During 
General T. J. Jackson's brilliant Valley campaign, in 
1864 (in which the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment 
acted a most conspicuous part), he was commis- 
sioned captain of Company H. 

He was present and participated with his regi- 
ment in all the battles fought by Pegram's brigade, 
from Cedar Mountain till the close of the war, 
with one exception, when sickness compelled him to 
be absent. 

He was in command of the Fifty-second Virginia 
Regiment at the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia at Appomattox Court House, and signed 
the parole for the men of his regiment. What more 
honorable record could be made of a soldier than 
that his name is enrolled with that patriotic band 
who followed their noble chieftain, General Robert 
E. Lee. 



208 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

BOYS OF CANE HILL COLLEGE 

In a sketch of the services of Captain Pleasant 
Buchanan in the Confederate War, I. Mont Wilson, 
of Springfield, Missouri, gives the following: 

"Pleasant H. Buchanan was Professor of Mathe- 
matics of Cane Hill College, Arkansas, when the 
war began. When the first call for troops was made 
by the State, a company of boys from the college 
and the surrounding country was at once organized, 
and Pleasant Buchanan was elected captain, the 
President of the College serving as a private. * * * 

"During the second day's fight, Captain Buchanan, 
his first lieutenant, Paton Inks, and some of his 
men penetrated the Federal lines, were captured, and 
sent to prison on Johnson's Island. In the summer, 
when Captain Buchanan and Lieutenant Inks were 
exchanged, they found themselves without a com- 
mand, so they made their way to northwest Arkan- 
sas and attached themselves to General T. C. Hind- 
man's army. * * * 

"Captain Buchanan fought as a private in Captain 
Carl's (Cane Hill) company of the Thirty- fourth 
Arkansas Infantry at Prairie Grove and was slightly 
wounded in the side, the ball passing through his 
canteen. The following spring he received a com- 
mission from the War Department to raise a cavalry 
company of Partizan Rangers. * * * 

"The squads and scouts left in northwest Arkan- 
sas not coming South as expected, Gen. W. L. Cabell 
detailed Captain Buchanan to take eleven picked 
men and horses and go to northern Arkansas and 
bring out the men. His instructions were to avoid 
all towns. Federal posts or large bodies of Federals, 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 209 

gather up all squads or individuals, not to do any- 
thing to alarm the Federal posts, and to avoid any 
engagement till across the Arkansas River. This 
was a hazardous undertaking, as at that season of 
the year the Arkansas River was only fordable at a 
few places, and every dugout, canoe, or boat of any 
kind had been burned by the Federals, except at 
large towns, where guards were watching the river. 
There was a chain of posts along the north side of 
the river from Little Rock to Van Buren, and on the 
south side from Little Rock to Fort Smith. Every 
mill and village had a post and scouts passing daily. 
The worst feature was that the leaves being off the 
trees, there was no forage at all, and neither meat 
nor bread for the women and children. It took a 
level-headed, cool man, with plenty of nerve, to carry 
out these instructions, and that was the reason Gen- 
eral Cabell selected Captain Buchanan for the im- 
portant undertaking. We had no trouble until we 
came near Waldron, forty miles south of the Arkan- 
sas River, with a post of a thousand men. We had 
been riding quietly on the road only two or three 
hours when we came on Federal scouts in a house 
near the road. They hustled around lively with 
their guns, and we expected to have hot work in 
a few seconds ; but Captain Buchanan rode straight 
up to the house and inquired if it was the military 
road to Fort Smith, and by his coolness made them 
believe we were Federal scouts going to Fort Smith. 
He rode quietly back to us and moved down the road 
in an ordinary walk till we were out of sight and 
hearing, when we rode rapidly toward Fort Smith 
for an hour. Traveling all that night by the north 
star, we struck the river nearly opposite the mouth 



210 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

of Big Mulberry. We hid our horses in a deep 
slough that made into the river, fed and rested 
them, while some of us slept and others reconnoi- 
tered the river for a crossing. 

"We decided to try it on a bar just above the 
mouth of Big Mulberry. Just as the sun went down 
we rode into the river, and made it without getting 
into swimming water; thence four miles north to 
the road from Ozark to Van Buren, through under- 
brush, brambles, brier thickets, and a very dark 
night. It did not take long to tear down the tele- 
graph wire and drag it out in the woods in sections. 
We then took all the roads leading in the direction 
of Cane Hill, traveling hard to cross the Fayetteville 
and Van Buren road before daylight, so we could 
get to Boston Mountain and rest during the day and 
reach Cane Hill the next night. We crossed over 
the mountain and reached Fola Gray's, the first house 
we dared to approach after crossing the river. We 
learned that Major Wright was in command of a 
post at Cane Hill, composed of Federal Tisi Indians' 
and negroes. We circled around this place, and all 
separated, going two and two together to our respec- 
tive homes, and then began at once to get word to all 
the scattering men and squads in Benton, Washing- 
ton, and Madison counties to be ready to start south 
on a certain date, our rendezvous to be the Twin 
Mountains, in Benton County. I went with Captain 
Buchanan to his home. His brothers, William and 
James, were at home on sick leave. They wanted 
to go south with us, but had no horses, and there 
were none to be bought in the country, the Federals 
having taken all. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 211 

"We had learned that Major Wright's headquar- 
ters were at Mr. James Hagood's, and that his horses 
and some of the other officers' horses were kept in 
stables about one hundred feet from this house, with 
a guard near by. The captain decided that we could 
go down there the night before we started, get their 
horses, and mount his brothers. So we four went 
and let the fence down around the lot, but ran on to 
a guard in the lot ; then we had to get away quietly. 
My sister was at White McClellan's, only a quarter 
of a mile away, so I went by to tell her good-by, and 
the captain went with me, as Charlie McClellan was 
going with us. While there Misses Emma Hagood 
and Amanda Hinds told me that they had tied Major 
Wright's horse to the fence just in the rear of the 
dwelling, where we could get it. I asked the captain 
if he would allow me to go and get it, and I did, 
and we all four returned to his mother's and left 
before daylight, moving out in the barren timber 
toward Rhea's Mill, and stopped to feed our horses 
before starting for the Twin Mountains. 

"William Rhinehart and Guy Blake, two of the 
escort, had joined us, and in thirty minutes more 
we would have been on our way and they would not 
have been able to come up with us. Our horses all 
had their bridles off. The captain was lying down 
on some leaves with a paper over his face, William 
Buchanan had procured a plug of a horse and James 
had gotten a mule. 

"When I first saw the Federals they were about 
one hundred yards away, deployed in line. I called 
to the boys, and each one sprang to his horse. As 
we did this they began firing and charged us. My 
horse and the captain's mare stood with their heads 



212 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

near together. As I sprang into my saddle and 
wheeled my horse, the captain was standing in his 
stirrup, with his right leg nearly in the saddle. 
Rhinehart and I ran together, and we had gone 
about one hundred yards when the captain's mare 
dashed by us. I was satisfied then that he was shot. 
Will and Jim Buchanan were shot before mounting. 
They ran at Jim to shoot him while he was trying 
to bridle his mule, and he fought one of them with 
his bridle for fifty yards before he could shoot him. 

"I have heard that I was censured as being the 
cause of their death by taking that horse. It is pos- 
sible we could have gotten away without their mak- 
ing such an effort to find us if I had not taken the 
horse. It was the suggestion of the captain that we 
get the officers' horses to mount his brothers, Wil- 
liam and Jim Buchanan, and we were only prevented 
by the guard. I did not offer to go for the major's 
horse till the captain cheerfully gave his consent. 
I also heard at that time that the negroes had re- 
ported to the Federals that we were there and put 
them on our trail. Major Wright's orders to the 
troop of Federals sent after us were to take no pris- 
oners, as I have learned since. 

"I was in Captain Buchanan's class in college, 
was in his infantry company till captured, again was 
one of the first to join this cavalry company, was in 
his mess from that day till he was killed, and I never 
saw a more perfect Christian gentleman. With my 
intimate and varied association with him I never 
heard him utter a word that could not have been 
spoken in the presence of a lady. He was as brave 
as the bravest, very cool, and never got rattled in a 
fight. He was a model officer and soldier, and was 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 213 

respected by all of his men. I never saw but one 
soldier refuse to do anything he told him. In his 
cool, quiet way he convinced that fellow that he had 
better do it, and do it quick. He was so modest and 
unassuming-, it was only those who were intimate 
with him that knew his real worth and merit." 

The brutality of the Federals after these men were 
killed is beyond precedent. In a letter from Mrs. 

to Comrade Wilson, author of the foregoing, 

she states : 

"In regard to the death of the Buchanan brothers 
I will tell you what I remember of the circumstances. 
It is painful to me, even at this day, to recall that 
scene. Mrs. Buchanan requested some of us to go 
and care for the bodies and keep the hogs from get- 
ting to them. Mrs. , of Little Rock, and I 

volunteered to go for her sake. We had gone about 
half way to our old home place — about a mile — 
when we heard the scouts coming in with the bodies, 
and we waited for them to come up. The bodies 
were stripped of all clothing save the undergarments. 
We asked the captain to take them down to their 
mother. He would not consent, but said he wanted 
us to go down with them to Boonsboro. We got 
into the ambulance with the dead boys lying in the 
back part, so powder-burned and blood-stained that 
we could not recognize them. They drove at full 
speed all the way, yelling and shouting: 'Hurrah 
for Captain Buchanan !' 

"After arriving at Boonsboro and I went 

to a residence until they had washed the faces of the 
dead boys, then we recognized each one. They were 
shot in the face and head, but no other violence that 
I remember, except that Captain Buchanan was 



214 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

stabbed in the side three or four times. The Fed- 
erals then took them back up home to their mother. 
Two of the old citizens went with us in a separate 
hack. 

"They were dressed in their graduating suits, 
which Mrs. Braden got from their hiding places in 
the attic. As far as I know, everything was con- 
ducted in order at the burial. I did not go. * * * 
Never can I forget that moonlight ride with those 
dear boys thrown in like butchered swine, and the 
yells of those negroes and Indians !" 

The other lady who accompanied them on that sad 
mission recalls the awful event, and writes of it 
minutely, even quoting the words of participants. 
She mentions, for instance, that while an Indian, 
Redbird, was looking at Jimmie he said : "That was 
one brave man. I hate to kill him ; but I have to, as 
he kill me." 

I regret having to give this incident, but I think 
it might emphasize the objection many thoughtful 
persons have to the use of semi-civilized savages, 
en masse, in warfare. In this case Major Wright 
commanded Pisi Indians 'and negroes, hence the 
terrible outrage. 

Dr. Paul J. Carrington told me that in one of the 
battles in the West, where the South was victorious, 
the Indians became so intoxicated by the carnage, 
that they rushed over the battlefield, scalping both 
dead and wounded, friend and foe. After this the 
Confederate Government only employed her Indian 
soldiers in companies or regiments, to guard the 
frontier. Even when fighting singly, however, they 
still show marked characteristics. Just before the 
Battle of Gettysburg, General Howe's cavalry passed 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 215 

Emmitsburg, where I was staying, and some strag- 
glers falling out, hid in Doctor Sharb's barn. The 
next day General Stuart's cavalry unearthed the 
sleepers and there was quite a skirmish in the lane 
in front of the house, the bullets pattering on the 
roofs of the porches where we were standing. The 
Stuart men were victorious and the enemy led a 
rapid chase down the lane. A young Indian from 
New Mexico was one of the pursuers, riding a mule, 
with long black hair flying. Uttering piercing war- 
whoops, he tore madly along the road, brandishing 
a long pike and leading three horses he had captured. 
"The ruling passion strong in death," he looked 
exactly like one of Cooper's "red men." 



EDMOND PENDLETON MAJOR 

Edmond Pendleton Major, of Culpeper, Virginia, 
one of four brothers, all of whom, except the killed 
and maimed, were at the post of duty at the time 
of the surrender, was only eighteen years of age 
when he joined the University Volunteers under 
Captain Crane, That he was all aglow with the 
spirit against which neither students nor professors 
were proof is shown by a letter to his father — after 
his enlistment. "The Washington College boys are 
in the field ; the Emory and Henry ; the Hampden- 
Sidney students passed through last Saturday, a fine 
company and well equipped, but ours will be the 
finest company ever sent out, composed of the flower 
of Virginia and all the South." He also wrote, 
showing he felt the deep responsibility : "Duty calls 
and I must go. My comrades are going, why should 



216 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

I remain while they are fighting for our Hberties. 
If I have done wrong you and mother must forgive 
me, because I think it my duty to go. If I survive 
I will have the gratification of knowing I had been 
one of my country's defenders. If I am to fall, I 
can say 'Thy will, O Lord, be done.' " After asking 
for other articles of his soldier's outfit he added : 
"Tell mother to send me a small Bible or Testament, 
which is the most important of all." In July the 
Volunteers were sent to West Virginia, a hard ser- 
vice even for Confederate soldiers, and for many 
days at a time they had neither tent nor shelter nor 
food, except green corn growing in the fields, of 
which Edmond said he had eaten ten ears at one 
time. Finally the company of sixty-five muskets, 
reduced to eleven men through sickness and battle, 
was disbanded and Edmond returned home, only to 
fall ill with typhoid fever. Before he was entirely 
recovered he joined as an independent volunteer the 
Twenty-sixth Alabama Infantry and marched to 
Yorktown, where Colonel O'Neale wrote, "He had 
shown great courage and coolness." He was subse- 
quently made adjutant of the Twenty-sixth Ala- 
bama, and was distinguished for gallantry at the 
Battle of Seven Pines. His death was singular and 
touching. The fighting was over except now and 
then a random shot. He was lying under a tree 
talking to Colonel O'Neale and Lieutenant Halsey 
when a rifle shell passed between them, stunning 
Colonel O'Neale, wounding Lieutenant Halsey, and 
killing Edmond instantly without even breaking the 
skin. "He was brave and cool in battle, moral and 
correct in his deportment, faithful and true in the 
discharge of his duty," said one who saw him fight 
and saw him die. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 217 

THE SECOND MARYLAND AT COLD HARBOR 

The following- extract from the account of the 
Battle of Cold Harbor, by Major R. L. Poor, on 
General Breckinridge's staff, was given me by a 
member of the Independent Maryland Regiment 
who lost his foot just before the attack on Gulp's 
Hill. He begs me not to mention his name, as he 
"did so little," but it is very difficult not to do so. 
He says that when the attack occurred the soldiers 
of the Independent Maryland were lying down in a 
depression of ground anticipating no attack, as they 
were in reserve, and the surprise was so great many 
men were shot in their blankets. 

"To , Esq. 

"Baltimore. 

"Dear Sir: Enclosed please find herewith the 
sketch of assault at Gold Harbor, June 3, 1864, and 
the very prominent, gallant, and successful part 
taken by the Independent Maryland Regiment of 
Infantry, and credit due them for the repulse of the 
victorious assaulting columns of the enemy after 
Hancock's divisions of Birney and Barlow had over- 
run and captured our line of entrenchments and the 
men of Breckinridge's division occupying them. 
They were marching unimpeded to our rear and the 
position occupied by the Independent Maryland and 
General Breckinridge's headquarters for the night. 

"At 4 a. m., June 3, 1864, the picked divisions of 
Hancock's corps, 5,000 strong, ran over our en- 
trenchments and captured them and 300 of our men, 
also Mcintosh's battalion of artillery supporting 
them. They then continued their charge to our rear 



218 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

until they encountered the Independent Maryland, 
300 men, which was the only force we had to protect 
our rear and check the victorious charging columns. 
We were awakened out of a peaceful and sound 
slumber at 4 a. m. by a sharp and startling cry from 
some one in the Maryland Regiment: "My God, 
look at the Yankees ! They are almost on top of us !' 
and truly they were, for in the dim, hazy light of 
coming dawn we could discover the compact mass 
of blue-coated men yelling and charging upon us. 
In shorter time than I can relate it the Independent 
Maryland was to a man on its feet, loading and 
firing into the very faces and breasts of the surging 
foe, at point-blank range. This fire was so galling and 
fatal that the charging columns seemed to melt away 
before it. Soon their dead and dying were strewn 
thickly over the field; their columns faltered, were 
crushed and in full retreat to the rear in an endeavor 
to seek safety within their own lines. But they were 
assailed on the right by Cook's North Carolina and 
on the left by General Finnegan's Florida brigades 
and fearfully punished. The men of the Indepen- 
dent Maryland Regiment were thus made heroes 
and covered with imperishable fame and glory and 
saved our lines. The loss was so great to the enemy 
that the ground between us looked like a lately 
cleared woodland covered with stumps. 

"General Grant stated his loss to be 10,000 men 
and that the results did not justify the slaughter, as 
they were all in favor of General Lee and demon- 
strated that he could not dislodge General Lee's 
army from behind their earthworks by direct assault. 
General Grant, however, ordered another general 
assault the evening of the same day, but his men. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 219 

with one accord, refused to move out of their Hnes 
and thus rebuked their commander-in-chief for the 
morning's reckless slaughter. We plainly saw their 
lines forming about 5 p. m. for an advance, and after 
leaping over the breastworks stop suddenly and re- 
main in line for some time, and then go to the rear 
and disappear. This movement we could not under- 
stand and consequently it was much commented on. 
"A few years after the war General Hancock was 
en route to Fortress Monroe by our steamer line. 
I was seated in my office at Union Dock when one 
of his aides came in and asked me if I were Major 
Poor and at Cold Harbor when the assault was 
made; and when I replied 'Yes,' he asked if I would 
go on the steamer and see General Hancock, as he 
wished some information in regard to it. General 
Hancock received me cordially and asked what 
forces and troops we had in reserve when his com- 
mand overrun and captured our works. I replied: 
'None, unless we might call the Independent Mary- 
land Regiment of 300 men, which was a few yards 
in rear of the main line of entrenchments, a reserve.' 
He replied : 'Your statement is to me almost incred- 
ible, and I could not believe if you had not so stated 
it, because Generals Barlow and Birney reported 
that after carrying your works they advanced some 
distance without resistance and suddenly encoun- 
tered a large reserve force, which gallantly attacked 
them with great vigor, and inflicted severe loss upon 
them and speedily forced them to relinquish the 
ground and works they had captured and seek shelter 
within their own lines.' He said further : 'I had in- 
structed Generals Barlow and Birney, if they suc- 
ceeded in breaking through the enemy's lines, to hold 



220 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

them at all hazards and I would support them with 
my entire force and the whole army if necessary. It 
is therefore hard for me to believe that such gallant 
and experienced officers and leaders of troops should 
have been so terribly deceived and commit such an 
unfortunate blunder.' Hence we can appreciate now, 
from General Hancock's statement, what an impor- 
tant part the glorious 300 of the Independent Mary- 
land Regiment took in the defense of the Cold Har- 
bor lines and the repulse of the assaulting columns. 

"I regret to have spun so long a yarn. 'An old 
Confederate' never knows where to stop his war 
talk. Craving your pardon and trusting I have not 
wearied you, I am, 

"Yours truly, 

"R. L. Poor, 

"Late Major, Engineer of Breckinridge's Staff. 

"Major Poor is mistaken in regard to Finnegan's 
brigade. It was to our right and rear several hun- 
dred yards. I remember distinctly looking back as 
we made the charge and seeing them marching in 
good line to our assistance. I think he is mistaken 
in regard to the artillery being Mcintosh's battalion. 
I was told by Colonel Stribling it was Rice's battery 
of his battalion. 

"D. RiDGELY Howard." 



AN UNKNOWN CONFEDERATE SOLDIER BOY 

[The courage of the Confederate boys is almost 
equalled by the modesty of the "Veterans." They 
are willing to give their "lives" for country only. 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 221 

Writing to veterans known to have acted their part 

nobly, they reply: "I did nothing. Put in." 

The following is a letter from men of that ilk, well 
and favorably known in Confederate records. — Ed.] 

"October 26, 1904. 
"My Dear Sweet Cousin : Oh, no — a thousand 
times no ! There is nothing I would not do at your 
behest except that. Such a thing about myself is 
impossible. No Confederate soldier should applaud 
himself for anything he did, since his only proper 
feeling should be gratitude to God that he had the 
opportunity and privilege of discharging a plain 
and simple, but glorious, duty. Yet I am glad that 
you have found pleasure in the work you have under- 
taken. I can say truly, the only war history I have 
read with pleasure is Henderson's "Life of Stonewall 
Jackson," and this only because it is the work of an 
unbiased hand in which such plain and even justice 
is meted out to both sides as must necessarily en- 
hance the respect and esteem of the adversaries each 
for the other, and thereby promote their self-respect. 
There is another book by Major Robert Stiles, called 
Tour Years under Marse Robert.' which I read with 
pleasure, it being his own reminiscences of what 
he saw and helped to do, and it is told modestly and 
naturally. I am sure you will not misunderstand 
me, but lest you might I will say again I am glad 
that you have essayed to write the book, and it 
will give me pleasure to read it, as I am not in it. 
for that would give me positive pain. I not only can 
not recall one single thing I did to evoke the mildest 
praise of the most generous, but I always feel my 
cheek mantle with shame that I should have gone 



222 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

through four whole years of active, daily service in 
the field, and never received a single scratch. Surely 
a man with that opportunity, who did not lose sev- 
eral legs and arms and have at least one eye shot 
out, might now be said never to have been 'in it.' 
Again I beg that you excuse me. 

"Your affectionate cousin, 

"J. T. B." 

HENRY D. BEALL 

Bushrod C. Washington, of Charlestown, West 
Virginia, writes of his comrade : 

"The following incident, which is well vouched 
for, will give some insight into the resourcefulness, 
self-confidence, and audacious courage which ren- 
dered the services of Henry Beall so valuable to 
'Jeb' Stuart and Gen. R. E, Lee. 

"General Lee, desiring to know something of the 
numbers and movements of Pope's army before 
making the attack known as the Second Battle of 
Manassas, Henry Beall was directed by General 
Stuart to scout in the rear and on the flank of his 
antagonist. He went, accompanied by Sergt. Jas. 
H. Conklyn, of Company B, Twelfth Virginia Cav- 
alry. After numerous adventures within the Fed- 
eral lines, they arrived after dark at the residence 
of a gentleman, known to Beall, close by a Federal 
encampment, part of Pope's army. It was from 
this family that Beall expected to obtain valuable 
information. When they got close to the house they 
heard the music of a violin, and could see through 
the window that there were Federal soldiers inside 
dancing- a cotillion with the young ladies. Sergeant 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 223 

Conklyn, supposing that the game was up, asked 
Beall what they should do. 'We shall go inside 
and dance a set with them,' Beall replied without 
hesitation; 'and if you don't feel like going, you can 
stay by our horses until I return.' But Conklyn pre- 
ferring to stay by his companion, in whose resource- 
fulness he had implicit confidence, they hitched 
horses, and together approached the house by the 
front door, and, without drawing arms, quietly en- 
tered the room among the dancers. The surprise of 
the parties within can better be imagined than de- 
scribed. 'You were having such a good time,' Beall 
remarked to the Federals, 'that we thought, if there 
is no objection, we would come in and dance a set 
with you.' Conklyn says he himself kept a close eye 
on the Federals' muskets, which were stacked in a 
comer of the room, while a set was made up, in 
which Beall danced with one of the ladies of the 
family whom he knew. It goes without saying that 
during that set he obtained the information he was 
seeking. The cool audacity of the adventure had 
exactly the effect upon the Federals that Beall had 
counted upon. They, of course, supposed that the 
house was surrounded by Confederate cavalry and 
that resistance was useless. Tt was a solemn dance,' 
says Sergeant Conklyn, 'on the part of the Yankees, 
who expected to be marched off as prisoners of war.' 
Beall and Conklyn quietly withdrew from the room 
and rode off without molestation." 



WHO SUE MUNDAY REALLY WAS 

"I have been very much interested in Captain Rid- 
ley's letters and especially his account of the South- 



224 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

ern heroines. I have waited for some one to correct 
an error he made in regard to 'Sue Munday.' Cap- 
tain Ridley certainly knows enough about Gen. John 
H. Morgan's command not to have left the impres- 
sion that 'Sue Munday' was a heroine only in name. 
As I understood it, 'Sue Munday' was Jerome Clark, 
son of Hon. Beverly L. Clark, of Franklin, Ken- 
tucky, who died while United States Minister to 
Guatemala, C. A. Jerome Clark was a member of 
Company A, the old squadron, and was noted for 
his remarkably fine and feminine features. The 
boys in camp frequently called him 'Sissie.' They 
dressed him up one day as a lady and introduced 
him to General Morgan as 'Miss Sue Munday,' 
thinking that they could fool their dashing chief, 
but that was never done. After enjoying the joke 
with the boys for a while, he said to them : 'We will 
have use for Miss Sue' — and he did, too." 



T. D. CLAIBORNE 



T. D. Claiborne, son of Colonel L. Claiborne, was 
born in 1847. Entered the Virginia Military Insti- 
tute in January, 1854. Resigned. Entered military 
service in April, 1861, as captain of Eighteenth Vir- 
ginia Infantry. Promoted major, in 1863, of an 
independent battalion of infantry ; lieutenant-colonel 
in 1863. Mortally wounded, and died in 1864, aged 
seventeen, 

RANDOLPH GARY FAIRFAX 

Randolph Cary Fairfax was the son of Dr. Or-J 
lando Fairfax and great-grandson of Dr. Bryan 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 225 

Fairfax, who inherited the title of Lord Fairfax. 
His mother was the daughter of Jefferson Gary and 
Virginia Randolph. He was born in Alexandria 
and from his infancy was remarkable for an almost 
womanly beauty. His eyes were hazel, his hair of 
a golden brown, his features regular and his com- 
plexion brilliant. These soft beauties made him a 
most attractive child and as he grew older he devel- 
oped a manly form which, though not tall, was of 
noble and graceful bearing. From his earliest years 
it was said of him, "Randolph is actuated by a desire 
to do his duty." In the fall of 1857 he entered the 
Episcopal High School of Virginia and in June car- 
ried off the honors in every class with medals and 
certificates of proficiency. In 1859 he took the high- 
est honor at the High School, the "gold medal," 
besides many smaller prizes. On the 12th of Au- 
gust, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Rock- 
bridge Battery, then commanded by Capt. William 
N. Pendleton. For our knowledge of his career as 
a soldier we are indebted chiefly to the familiar let- 
ters from his messmates and himself, which contain 
a continuous description of Jackson's wonderful 
campaigns as they appeared to a boy of eighteen 
years of age in the ranks. He fell at his gun on the 
13th of December, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericks- 
burg. 



HENRY JENNER JONES 

Perhaps no battle of the war was comparatively so 
widely spoken of as the one fought at New Market, 
in the Valley of Virginia, in May, 1864. Though a 



226 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

complete victory, Breckinridge, with a force slightly 
exceeding three thousand men, utterly routing Sigel 
with more than double that number, it would have 
sunk into insignificance, happening as it did just at 
the time of great and important battles of the Wil- 
derness and Spottsylvania Court House, but that a 
romantic interest was attached to it from the gallant 
participation of the "boys" of the Virginia Military 
Institute ; and a thrill of sorrow sent through the 
Southern land, re-echoed even from our foes, at the 
death of the eight brave boy-soldiers, too young to 
have known the horrors of war. The subject of this 
sketch was one of this band. 

Cadet Henry Jenner Jones, son of Thomas S. and 
Mary E. Jones, was born in King William County, 
Virginia, on the loth of March, 1847. When six- 
teen years of age, in August, 1863, he was entered 
at the Virginia Military Institute, becoming a mem- 
ber of the fourth class. With this class he pursued 
his studies, passing successfully the intermediate 
examination, until the nth of May, 1864. On that 
day the corps was ordered to join Breckinridge's 
army at Staunton. 

Jenner, for so he was called, was, like many of his 
comrades, too young to perform efficient service, 
but like them moved by love of home and country, 
roused by a contagious enthusiasm, and, more than 
all, stung to his heart's core by the death of his elder 
brother, who had been killed at Seven Pines, he went 
with his comrades to battle for his State, to avenge 
his brother's death. In the disposition of his forces 
on the field of New Market, on Sunday morning. 
May 15, General Breckinridge threw the Corps of 
Cadets into his second, or reserve line, designing, if 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 227 

possible, to keep them from the dangers of the en- 
gagement, but the exigencies of battle and the deter- 
mined enthusiasm of the gallant corps prevented the 
carrying out of this design. The regiment immedi- 
ately in their front breaking under the galling fire, 
they closed in and filled up the gap, giving material 
assistance in turning the tide of battle. But before 
this glorious moment, before they had come into 
direct contact with the foe, death had thinned their 
ranks ; a shell passing over the first line burst just at 
the junction of the flanks of C and D companies, 
killing the orderly sergeant of D company and three 
privates. Jenner Jones was of this number. His 
face lit up with the fire of battle, he fell ere his hand 
had been raised to avenge his own and his country's 
wrongs. 

Of his character, a brother says: "It was just 
forming, and gave promise of much future useful- 
ness. He was of a warm, affectionate disposition, 
securing thereby the love of all who knew him well. 
He eminently displayed those Christian virtues of 
integrity, truthfulness, honor, and courage, for 
which his Welsh ancestry were noted ; and yet it be- 
mourns me to state he never made an open confession 
of his faith in Christ. This, indeed, is the saddest 
point in his life; yet we do hope that the eminently 
pious influences of his sainted father had early im- 
pressed his mind for good, so that even without our 
knowledge he had secretly consecrated himself to 
the service of his Master." 



228 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

THE YOUNGEST ON RECORD 

Comrade G. K. Crump, of Tunica, Miss., writes : 
"I have seen several claims made as to the youngest 
Confederate veteran, but I met recently one who, 
at time of enlistment and amount of actual service 
rendered, surpasses any record I have yet seen. 
George S. Lamkin was born at Winona, Miss., No- 
vember 3, 1850. He joined Stanford's Mississippi 
Battery, at Grenada, Miss., on August 2, 1861, and 
at Shiloh, before he was twelve years old, was badly 
wounded. At Chickamauga he was wounded twice, 
once quite seriously. Mr. Lamkin was very tall for 
his age when he entered the service, and is now a 
man six feet and four inches tall. He lives at 880 
Adams Street, Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Lamkin is of 
a retiring disposition, and was averse to my men- 
tioning this matter, but I think it should be known 
as a matter of history. 



CONFEDERATE HEROES 

Col. A. K. McClure, in his address on the subject 
of erecting a monument to Gen. Robert E. Lee at 
Gettysburg, considers that Gushing and Armistead 
indicated more clearly the high-water mark of 
American heroism than did any one else. I think 
while this is a statement which is very pleasing to 
Virginians, it is not literally true, for they were only 
two among many. I think the following letter ad- 
dressed to Lieutenant Carter Berkeley will show 
that Virginia could boast many other heroes who 
had clearly attained this high mark. Lieutenant 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 229 

Berkeley is a second cousin of Gen. Robert E. Lee, 
and was a brave officer in the Confederate service. 

Captain Parks, writing to Lieutenant Berkeley, 
October 14, 1901, says: 

"Li The Confederate Veteran I noticed your in- 
quiry concerning the death of Col. L B. Thompson, 
of the First Arkansas Regiment (Infantry), killed 
at Shiloh. I presume you mean Lieut.-Col. John 
Baker Thompson, of Little Rock, Ark., formerly of 
Virginia, who was some two years president of St. 
John's College. 

"I dined with Colonel Thompson some time about 
the last of March or first of April, 1862, at the Gay- 
oso Hotel, at Memphis, Tenn. At that time I was 
eighteen years of age and he twenty- four, and I was 
senior first lieutenant of heavy artillery, Hoadley's 
Arkansas Battery, and shortly thereafter succeeded 
him as captain of said battery. After dinner, as I 
was to take passage on a Mississippi steamer. 
Colonel Thompson walked with me to the boat. On 
the way to the boat he was making many inquiries 
touching my captain's proficiency in military tac- 
tics. I remember he asked me this question : 'Where 
is the position of the lieutenant-colonel and major 
in time of action?' (He was then a lieutenant- 
colonel and the impression was a great battle would 
soon be fought at or near Shiloh, his command being 
a part of the Confederate forces to be engaged in 
the expected battle.) Laughingly I said: 'Why, 
Colonel, ask me something not so easy.' He said : 
'You do not know, sir ; nor does your captain !' 
'Supposing I did know,' I answered, 'as shown by 
diagram in Hardie's "Tactics?" ' 'Ah,' said he, 'just 
as I expected. Your answer is incorrect, but I do 



230 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

not censure you, because the answer to that question 
is not in General Hardie's "Tactics." He failed to 
translate that from the French tactics, of which I 
have a copy.' He then explained to me what the 
French tactics set forth — their places are in time of 
action on the right or left in line of battle 6 and 12 
(or 15) paces, and explained the reasons therefor. 
Knowing him to be a brave and chivalrous Christian 
gentleman and scholar, I looked him straight in the 
eyes, thinking it could be only a few days until he 
should be in the impending conflict, and said as we 
were shaking hands to part: 'You surely will not 
thus unnecessarily expose yourself in the coming en- 
gagement, will you. Colonel?' He answered: *I 
will most certainly do my whole duty, sir !' With a 
voice of sadness I said: Then, my dear Colonel, I 
will never see you again. You will be killed in that 
battle. May God bless you! Farewell!' 

"The battle came. It proved to be one of the 
bloodiest and most important and withal, perhaps, 
the only battle fought out as planned, in the whole 
Civil War, Great indeed was the loss we sustained 
there. Perhaps the greatest loss was that of Albert 
Sidney Johnston, who was considered by President 
Jefferson Davis as one of the greatest generals in 
America. There, as I had predicted, Colonel 
Thompson fell upon the right and at the head of his 
regiment. He lived four days, though pierced with 
four (some reported eight) balls in his breast." 

Borne to the rear by his men, as he passed through 
the ranks he encouraged others, telling them how 
sweet it was to die for one's country. The enemy 
remained in possession of the field, so that Colonel 
Thompson died within their lines. His grave was 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 231 

marked by his orderly, who had accompanied him, 
and after the war his remains were brought to his 
native State of Virginia and deposited in Hollywood 
Cemetery at Richmond. 

In the cyclorama of the Battle of Shiloh the death 
of Colonel Thompson is marked as one of the prin- 
cipal events. He was called the Havelock, or Chris- 
tian soldier, and was the idol of his command. 



COL. JOHN BAKER THOMPSON AND HIS BOYS 

The First Arkansas Regiment consisted, in part, 
of the students of St. John's College, Little Rock, 
from fourteen to nineteen years of age. Its presi- 
dent was Col. John Baker Thompson and its pro- 
fessors were afterwards officers in the regiment. 
Colonel Thompson opposed secession, not as a ques- 
tion of right, but of expediency, and used every ef- 
fort to influence his boys against it. Captain Fel- 
lows, one of the professors, afterwards an officer of 
the First Arkansas, subsequently district attorney 
for the city of New York, spoke against secession 
and Colonel Thompson gave the boys a half-holi- 
day to hear it, and said it was the most eloquent 
speech he had ever heard, and "most convincing." 
Nevertheless, when Virginia seceded he sent in his 
resignation and offered his services to his State. 
When reproached with his apparent inconsistency 
he said, "I was opposed to secession ; but when it 
comes to a fight, every man must 'shinny on his 
own side.' " 

The parents and friends of the students persuaded 
him to remain in Arkansas, saying they would in 
that case consent to their boys enlisting, as they 



232 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

knew he would consider the boys committed to his 
charge a sacred trust. Shortly after the enlistment 
the First Arkansas was ordered to Virginia and 
joined General Holmes's brigade, which was or- 
dered to Manassas to support the right wing. The 
march was made in such unprecedented time that 
the regiment was complimented on the field by Pres- 
ident Davis and General Beauregard, and orders 
were given that they might call themselves "Jack- 
son's Foot Cavalry," and inscribe that on their ban- 
ner. It is said this is the origin of the name given 
Jackson's soldiers. 

The men were not allowed to halt on the march ; 
the roads were dusty and the weather warm, and 
they suffered terribly from thirst. When the battle- 
field was reached the command was thrown into the 
forefront of the fighting. Almost directly in front 
of the regiment was a spring of cool water, com- 
pletely covered, however, by the guns of a Federal 
battery. This tempting spring, so near and yet so 
far, was exceedingly tantalizing to the thirsty men, 
and finally, when human nature could stand it no 
longer, three young boys, each under sixteen, whose 
names, unfortunately, have been lost in the flight 
of time, volunteered to get some water from the 
spring. With a lot of canteens strung over their 
shoulders the three young heroes started on their 
perilous journey. As soon as they came within 
range of the Federal battery it opened on them, and 
a perfect hail of canister and grape swept the field. 
The three lads reached the spring uninjured and 
quickly filled the canteens, while their comrades 
watched with breathless interest, expecting every 
moment to see them struck down. Suddenly, as if 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 233 

by magic, the fire from the battery ceased. Then 
as the boys started on their return to the regiment 
an officer on horseback rode out from between the 
guns of the battery, and, Hfting his hat, waved it 
to the boys, while a hearty cheer broke from the 
throats of the cannoneers. The officer had discerned 
the mission of the lads and given the order to stop 
firing. The cheer was responded to by the thirsty 
Confederates, and a few minutes later they were 
pouring the refreshing water down their dusty 
throats. 

Possibly at Kennesaw, when the men and boys 
of the First Arkansas Regiment saw the unfortu- 
nate wounded boys in blue in danger of a horrible 
death in the burning woods, they remembered the 
incident of the first great battle of the war. 

Note. — "Many of our readers know of the bat- 
tle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, which was 
fought on June 2y, 1864. On that fateful day Gen- 
eral Sherman made a front attack up General John- 
ston's lines, and was repulsed with awful slaughter, 
leaving many thousands of his dead and wounded 
on the ground, the entrenched Confederates suffer- 
ing comparatively little loss. 

" Tt was during this battle,' says General French, 
'that one of the noblest deeds of humanity was per- 
formed that the world has ever witnessed ;' and we 
are sure that no one will be found to dispute the 
statement. We follow the narrative: 'Col. W. H. 
Martin, of the First Arkansas Regiment of Cle- 
burne's Division, seeing the woods in front of him 
on fire and burning the wounded Federals, tied a 
handkerchief to a ramrod, and, amid the danger of 
battle, mounted the parapet and shouted to the 
enemy : "Come and remove your wounded ; they are 



234 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

burning to death; we won't fire a gun till you get 
them away. Be quick !" And with his own men he 
leaped over the works and helped in the humane 
work. When this work was ended a noble Federal 
major was so impressed by such magnanimity that 
he pulled from his belt a brace of fine pistols and 
presented them to Colonel Martin with the remark : 
"Accept them with my appreciation of the nobility 
of this deed. It deserves to be perpetuated to the 
deathless honor of every one of you concerned in 
it ; and should you fight a thousand other battles, and 
win a thousand other victories, you will never win 
another so noble as this." ' 

"Is there anything in history that better illus- 
trates the higher meaning of chivalry? It is fit to 
be matched with the conduct of young Kirkland, of 
South Carolina, who, at the risk of his own life, 
loaded himself with canteens full of water and 
climbed over the fortifications at Fredericksburg 
while the battle was raging, that he might relieve the 
thirst of his wounded foes. It is even finer than the 
magnanimity of Sir Philip Sidney at Zutphen, or 
than that of the French cuirassier at Waterloo. If 
the people of the South should ever forget it they 
would be guilty of a piece of unpardonable baseness. 

"We have often wished that some one with com- 
petent literary skill would gather up into a bright and 
attractive volume the more notable instances in the 
war between the States, in which the better side of 
human nature found its expression. Such a volume 
would do more to abate the lingering prejudices be- 
tween the North and the South than all the efforts 
of all our statesmen. Some things should be cast 
into oblivion ; but whatever furnishes a lesson in for- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 235 

bearance, in high-mindedness, in Christian courtesy, 
is an inalienable part of our inheritance, and should 
be passed on to our children." 



LETTER FROM COLONEL THOMPSON AFTER THE BAT- 
TLE OF MANASSAS 

"Camp McGregor, August 15. 

"My Dear Sister : 

"Were it not for the pressing duties and worry- 
ing inconveniences of this life, I would write you 
often. We were under arms all yesterday expecting 
an attack. Let it come! I was at the fight at Ma- 
nassas. Our brigade gave the coup-de-grace. We 
converted their retreat into a rout, after marching 
in quick (presto, presto) time, seven miles, to rein- 
force the left wing. We marched a mile under their 
rifle battery but without damage. Our rifled cannon 
made their field officers take the fences at the very 
first discharge. Lindsay Walker, who manned the 
Pawnee, fired the first shot from our brigade, and 
it fell right into a close column retreating in fair 
order, scattering them in every direction. I have 
seen nothing of H. C. — would I might have an op- 
portunity to do him some favor. * * * 

"J. B. T." 

first ARKANSAS BOYS 

I have but few names of boys of St. John's College, 
Arkansas. I give those I have been able to obtain — 
Beall, Ray, and Carl Hempstead. Carl Hempstead, 
scarcely seventeen at the breaking out of the Civil 



236 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

War, but with a military training, volunteered to 
fight in the ranks, at the Battle of Shiloh, and fell 
far in the van, at the close of the second day's en- 
gagement. He was a typical Southern boy, with all 
the enthusiasm of youth and the courage of the born 
soldier, and is one of the heroes who sleep on the 
sacred ground of Southern battlefields. 

"Rose" Thibault was killed instantly at Pilot 
Knob, Mo., September 2y, 1864, receiving a Minie- 
ball in the chin, and was found with his face to the 
foe, only a few steps from the fort, where he fell in 
front of the charging forces. A brave and noble boy, 
only eighteen at the time of his death, having enlisted 
at fifteen. 

Of John J. Baggett it is said that "he was thought 
to be the finest-looking soldier in Texas." William 
Osborne, with eighteen of his battery, was captured 
at Island No. 10, and died in prison at the North. 
Of the others I know nothing but the names — Peyton 
D. English, F. Pratt Oates, Thos. W. Newton, Capt. 
Wm. Fulton Wright, Ivan Pike, George E. Dodge, 
Frank T. Vaughan, John T. Boyle, John Wesley 
Moore, Mack Hammett, Matt Hudson, David Dodd. 



letter from captain john r. fellows 

"Military Prison, Johnson's Island, 

"November 4, 1863. 
"Mrs. S. R. Hull, Baltimore, Md. : 

"My Dear Madam — Your letter of 29th ult. to 
Brigadier-General Beall having made me acquainted 
with your name and residence furnishes me an op- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 237 

portunity which I have long desired, of acquainting 
the relatives of Lieut.-Col. J. B. Thompson with 
some particulars of his death. He was, as you are 
probably aware, major of the First Arkansas Regi- 
ment from its organization, and served in such ca- 
pacity through the first year of the war. In the 
latter part of February, 1862, the regiment was or- 
dered from Virginia to Corinth, Miss., where it re- 
organized and your brother was elected to the posi- 
tion of lieutenant-colonel. At the Battle of Shiloh 
the regiment was one of the first in action, and about 
ten o'clock Sunday morning it made three successive 
charges upon a strongly fortified position. It was 
in the second of these and while leading the com- 
mand (being some distance in advance of the line) 
that Colonel Thompson fell. 

"His conspicuous position and gallant bearing evi- 
dently drew upon him the fire of sharp-shooters, as 
he was struck almost simultaneously by seven balls. 
He was immediately carried to a hospital in the rear 
and placed under the charge of skilful and attentive 
surgeons. The duties of my position in the regi- 
ment prevented me from seeing him (after he was 
wounded) that day, and at night we bivouacked 
some three miles away. The next day I visited him 
in company with Colonel Fagan. He bore his pain- 
ful wounds with more of heroic fortitude and un- 
complaining patience than I have ever witnessed in 
any other person, conversing cheerfully about his 
own condition and giving full and minute directions 
as to the disposition to be made of his effects. The 
management of these he entrusted entirely to Colonel 
Fagan, and the family in Virginia have been fully 
informed of what his instructions were and how 
they were executed. 



238 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

"We were compelled to leave him in the hospital 
bn our retreat, as he could not bear removal. One 
of our own surgeons remained with him, and both 
from him and from the Federal surgeons he re- 
ceived every care and attention. He died on Thurs- 
day morning, April lo, and was buried near the hos- 
pital, his grave being marked. He died as he had 
often expressed a wish to do, upon the field of battle, 
meeting his fate with the fortitude of a true soldier 
and the calmness of a Christian. 

"Colonel Thompson was my intimate and cher- 
ished friend — nay, more, my ideal and model. I 
never knew a man of such fine and irreproachable 
character, and he carried the graces of his Christian 
calling into every act and operation of his life. The 
vices that always prevail in camp did not even assail 
him and had no influence upon him except to stim- 
ulate his efforts for their removal. He moved con- 
stantly in an atmosphere of integrity, purity and vir- 
tuous action — an atmosphere of his own creation. 
His influence for good over the men of the regiment 
was something wonderful — the loud oath, coarse 
jest, or obscene story was never repeated in his pres- 
ence. He was the idol of his command, and the 
roughest and most hardened soldier became subdued 
and gentle in his presence and eager to accomplish 
his wishes. He ruled, too, almost alone by the power 
of his noble example, being firm but never harsh. 
His men loved him too well to disobey him. 

"One of Colonel Thompson's remarkable charac- 
teristics was his unvarying cheerfulness. Always 
genial in manner, sportive yet brilliant and instruc- 
tive in conversation, he was the delight of the circle 
which in camp or bivouac used to gather around 




JOHN BAKER THOMPSON. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 240 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 239 

him and listen to the music of that social life — mel- 
ody that we, alas, shall hear no more. 

"Many of us lost dear friends in the bloody strug- 
gle of those two days, and by the side of the streams 
and under the trees in the dark forests of Shiloh are 
lying now, in their last sleep, those in whom our 
hearts were bound up. But when it was told us that 
Colonel Thompson was dead, all private griefs 
seemed forgotten in a contemplation of the great 
loss all had sustained. As for myself, I felt that it 
was irreparable. I used to sit in his presence as a 
child before a loved teacher. Possessed of the charm 
and fascination that cultivated intellect always im- 
parts, enjoying with a keen zest the society of others 
and always adding to its interest by his own accom- 
plishments, where shall we find another so worthy 
our love ? To the regiment he was at once an officer, 
a friend, and an oracle. 

"It is with feelings of sad and mournful satisfac- 
tion that I offer to his memory this brief, imperfect 
tribute, evoked by the thoughts of him which crowd 
upon me tonight. 

"I shall be very glad to hear from you, and if I 
have omitted to state anything respecting his mili- 
tary career and death it will gratify me to state it. 

"Believe me very respectfully your friend, 

"Jno. R. Fellows, 
"Staff Brw.-Gen. Beall." 



COL. JOHN BAKER THOMPSON 

Col. John Baker Thompson was born April 6, 
1836, at Vacation, in Amherst County, Va., the son 
of Judge Lucas Powell Thompson and his wife. 



240 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Susan Caroline Tapscott. He was of distinguished 
Colonial ancestry. Through his father he was the 
grandson many times removed of Hon. Benjamin 
Harrison, the first law chancellor of Virginia, ances- 
tor of the two Presidents of that name, and through 
his mother he was the lineal descendant of Col. 
William Ball, grandfather of General Washington. 
At fourteen he was prepared for the University of 
Virginia, but was too young to enter. It was 
intimated that he would be made an exception as to 
the age for admission, but his friends thought it 
inadvisable to enter at such an early age. He con- 
tinued his studies in Staunton until he was sixteen, 
entered the University, and took the degree of master 
of arts in two years, with additional tickets — mixed 
mathematics, German and Spanish. He continued 
his studies while in camp. A gentleman relates that 
calling on him he found Colonel Fagan in his tent 
waiting for Colonel Thompson. Colonel Fagan 
pointed to a number of books on the table and said : 
"See that pile of books on German and French mili- 
tary tactics? Thompson has mastered them all." 

On leaving the university he was made Professor 
of Mathematics at Kenyon College, Ohio. The cli- 
mate not suiting him he went to South America as 
secretary to Captain Hull, of the St. Laurence, and 
on his return was elected president of St. John's 
College, Little Rock. He was most successful in 
building up the school, and when the war broke out 
no college in the country had a fairer prospect of 
success nor offered a nobler sacrifice on the altar of 
country. Colonel Thompson's professors were men 
of the highest character and attainments, and of his 
boys has been written : "These boys were flowers of 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 241 

Southern blood and under arms in war constituted 
a body of heroes worthy of comparison with those 
of Thermopylae" (Parks). Colonel Fellows wrote 
me that "not one of those boys deserted, showed the 
white feather, or was court-martialed for any of- 
fense whatever." In the fall, before the Battle of 
Shiloh, Colonel Thompson, thinking camp life de- 
moralizing for his boys, requested to be sent to the 
South. At the Battle of Shiloh General Johnston 
wished to locate the enemy and the First Arkansas 
was ordered to unmask their batteries. Colonel 
Thompson volunteered to lead the forlorn hope. 
General Fagan remonstrated, saying it was his place 
and he would not resign it. Colonel Thompson said, 
"No, General, I will go; you have a wife and chil- 
dren. I have none."* On the march the view was 
obstructed by a tangle of brushwood, and Colonel 
Thompson taking a dangerously exposed position 
tried to discover the enemy's whereabouts. Some of 
his boys begged to take the risk (of sharp-shooters) 
in his place, but he refused, saying, "I will lead but 
never send you into danger." This was his idea of 
a "sacred trust." As they were standing below him 
he remarked to one of his officers who had been his 
companion of many a hunting expedition, "This is 
different game, Bronaugh, from that we used to fol- 



*In June, 1858, he was married to Miss Alice Powers (the 
eldest daughter of Pike Powers, Esq.) of Staunton, between 
whom and himself an attachment had existed for years. The 
same year he accepted the Presidency of St. John's College, 
Little Rock, an institution established by the Free Masons of 
Arkansas. While the dark war-cloud was rising over the land, 
his own life was darkened by the death of his wife, a woman 
of singularly pure spirit, vigorous intellect and elegant accom- 
plishments, in every way worthy of him. She died in the hope 
of the Gospel of Christ. The stricken husband bore the blow 
with manly fortitude and Christian resignation. 



242 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

low." The battery was unmasked and at the first 
fire he fell wounded in seven places. As the battle 
was fought with varying fortunes the field hospital 
was now with one army, now with the other. Both 
the Federal surgeons and his own vied with each 
other in care of him. He was cheerful to the end, 
saying, "I commend my soul to God ; my life I give 
joyfully to my country." 

He wrote the following letter to his father, the 
night before the battle : 

"Night of April 4, 1862. 
"My Dear Father : 

**I write by the light of our bivouac fires. We 
expect by God's help a glorious victory tomorrow. 
If I should not see you again, take the assurance 
that I trust in God to be prepared for all. Day after 
to-morrow is my twenty-seventh birthday. Love to 
all. "Your devoted son, 

"John Baker Thompson." 

The morning before the battle one of his officers, 
seeing he had a new uniform, said, "Thompson, you 
should keep that to receive their surrender in." He 
smiled and shook his head. After he was wounded 
he turned to this friend and said, "and they dressed 
him for his burial." He was buried on the field, un- 
der a large tree, his name and rank cut in the bark. 
After the war, when his remains were removed, the 
inscription was found as legible as when first placed 
there. His remains were laid with those of his be- 
loved wife under a monument he had erected to 
her memory in beautiful Hollywood, where he rests 
with his comrades who with him died for home and 
country. The inscription — 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 243 

Lt.-Col. John Baker Thompson, First Arkansas Regiment, 
fell while gallantly contesting the field of Shiloh. 
"He giveth his beloved sleep." 

Thus lived and died the young soldiers of the 
Confederacy — a generation of civihzation destroyed. 

"O Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name !" 
OBITUARY 

"John Baker Thompson, son of Judge Lucas 
Powell Thompson, of Staunton, Va., and lieuten- 
ant-colonel of the First Arkansas Regiment, fell 
while gallantly contesting the field of Shiloh. A 
nobler sacrifice has not been laid on Freedom's 
altair."— Richmond Dispatch. 

POEM BY TIM ROD 

"And thou art gone ; grim death has wrapped 
Thee in his chilled embrace and stilled 
The genial pulses of thy soul; 
Hushed the proud throbbings of that breast 
And dimmed the calm eye forever 
Wont to beam on all so kindly. 
Must yearning friendship say farewell, 
No more to feel the gladdening thrill 
Of sweet communion with thee? 
Thy sun of life hath set in all 
Its noontide glory, but again 
Resplendent it shall rise to shine 
Midst scenes more bright and lovely far 
Than this cold world of ours. 
The path was bright before thee; 
Thou hadst garnered up rich store 
Of human wisdom; the fond hopes 
Of many a loved one hung on thee ; 
But these, alas ! have perished, and 
The sweeter hope doth rise that thou 
Hast found a fadeless shore where storms 
Do wreck not, war doth rage no more. 



244 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

Many did fall on Shiloh's plain, 
Noble the victims offered up, 
Red waxed the altar fires, but not 
From shrine of Liberty arose 
On the air of evening incense 
More costly than thy dying breath. 
Farewell ! no more we'll see thee midst 
The gathering throng of heroes ; but 
When other brighter days shall come 
And laurels crown the brows stern fate 
Hath spared, and earth's exultant shouts 
Intoxicate the champions of 
Sweet liberty, our hearts will turn 
To think a crown stainless and pure 
Doth grace thy sacred head ; a crown 
Eternal, bright and beautiful. 
How shall we miss thee e'en though years 
Shall pass away, and others stand 
Where thou in glory mightst have stood. 
Adieu, for we have loved thee and 
Shall mourn thee long. Adieu, we leave 
Thee to thy peaceful rest which naught 
Can break ; thy wakeless, dreamless sleep. 
The battle roar, fit requiem to 
Thy gallant spirit, strikes not on 
The palsied ear now drinking in 
The choirings of bright cherubim." 

''the magnificent first ARKANSAS REGIMENT OF 

infantry'' 

"The First Arkansas Regiment enlisted directly 
into the Confederate Army as originally organized, 
and was composed of the following staff officers: 
James F. Fagan, colonel ; James C. Monroe, lieu- 
tenant-colonel ; John Baker Thompson, major; 
Frank Bronaugh, adjutant. On the formation of 
the regiment it was moved to Lynchburg, Va., where 
it was mustered into the Confederate service on the 
26th day of May, 1861, and surrendered on the 27th 
day of April, 1865. The regiment was in seven- 
teen general engagements, skirmished 200 days, and 
marched over 9,000 miles. At the time of its organi- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 245 

zation it numbered i,ioo men, besides being re- 
cruited several times. At the close of the war 39 
remained, 32 were prisoners, and 7 surrendered at 
Appomattox. The loss of the regiment at Shiloh 
reached the aggregate of 364 killed, wounded and 
missing. Major J. W. Colquitt was severely wound- 
ed late in the action, so seriously that he was obliged 
to go to his home in Georgia on leave. The train on 
which he traveled was captured by the Yankees at 
Huntsville, Ala., but he escaped, although on 
crutches, and made his way safely home. When he 
recovered from his wound he rejoined his regiment 
as its colonel (Colonel Fagan being promoted), and 
commanded it until he was desperately wounded at 
Atlanta July 26, 1864, losing his right foot; after 
which he was put on post duty at West Point, Miss., 
where he remained until the surrender. 

"From the 'Life of General Albert Sidney John- 
ston,' the Confederate commanding general in the 
Battle of Shiloh, I quote the following: 

" The First Arkansas Regiment, of which John 
Baker Thompson was lieutenant-colonel, was in its 
second engagement when he met a soldier's fate 
April 6, 1862, on this hard- fought field — one of the 
most memorable battles, in some respects, of this or 
any other age,' 

"On the right of the regiment, dauntlessly leading 
the advance, fell Lieut. -Col. John Baker Thompson, 
mortally wounded, pierced with seven balls. His 
loss no one can feel as sensibly as myself. Like 
Havelock, he united the graces of religion to the 
valor of the soldier. 

"With much respect, 

"Very truly, 

(Signed) "Jas. F. Fagan, 

"Col. Commanding ist Ark. Regt." 



APPENDIX 

Appendix I 

THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY FOUGHT 

"The Southern States proclaimed the right of na- 
tionaHties, demanded their independence, and 
proved their earnestness and unanimity by argu- 
ments that were far more unequivocal than doubtful 
plebiscite. For four long years they defended their 
cause on the battlefield with heroic courage, against 
overwhelming odds and at the sacrifice of every- 
thing that men most desire. American and indeed 
European writers are accustomed to speak of the 
heroism of the American colonies in repudiating 
imperial taxation and asserting and achieving their 
independence against all the force of Great Britain. 
But no one who looks carefully into the history of 
the American Revolution, who observes the lan- 
guor, the profound divisions, the frequent pusillan- 
imity, the absence of all strong and unselfish enthu- 
siasm that were displayed in great portions of the 
revolted colonies and their dependence for success 
on foreign assistance, will doubt that the Southern 
States in the war of secession exhibited an incom- 
parably higher level of courage, tenacity and self- 
sacrifice. But it was encountered with an equal 



248 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

tenacity and with far greater resources, and after 
a sacrifice of life unequalled in any war since the 
fall of Napoleon, the North succeeded in crushing 
the revolt and establishing its authority over the 
vanquished South. Lecky." 



Appendix II 

THEIR PRESIDENT 



"Jefferson Davis was born at beautiful Fairfield, 
Ky., June 3, 1808. He was destined to be the leader 
of a liberty-loving people whose courage and fidelity 
to principle and sacrifices to be made for liberty's 
cause would write upon the pages of American his- 
tory a story that for all time would command the 
admiration of the world. 

"As a leader of the Southern people, as President 
of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis was made 
to suffer for the people as no other leader ever was 
that modern history records. His purity of private 
character, his patriotism, his love of justice and truth, 
his eminent ability as a statesman made him not only 
a leader of men, but gave him rank as the peer of any 
man of his day. His gentle manner, his courtesy to 
his humblest fellow-man, his personal courage and 
rare judgment endeared him to our people. We 
loved him for his sterling virtues, we loved him as a 
comrade and friend. Today his bitterest foes are 
compelled to concede that he was honest and cour- 
ageous in his life's work. Mr. Davis was not only 
a statesman ; he was a soldier of conceded ability and 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 249 

won his spurs upon many Mexican battlefields in the 
cause of the Government whose persecution of him 
was cruel and inhuman. 

"When the South was forced to withdraw from the 
union of States, we turned as one man to Jefferson 
Davis as our leader. A statesman was needed as well 
as a trained soldier; a man with the will to do, the 
soul to dare. In Mr. Davis we found the ideal man 
to guide the destinies of the infant republic, organize 
her civil departments, and steer her clear of the rocks 
and breakers of the times. By common consent of 
all the delegates of the seceding States assembled in 
convention at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1861, Mr. 
Davis was chosen Provisional President of the Con- 
federate States of America. In 1862 he was elected 
by the votes of the whole people of the South Consti- 
tutional President of the Confederate States. 

"Positively Mr. Davis did not seek the position — 
the position sought him. After the State of Miss- 
issippi seceded from the Union, Mr. Davis was 
appointed by the Governor commander-in-chief of 
the State forces, and he was as much astonished as 
man could be when the Montgomery convention 
chose him President. It is absurd for the writers 
and historians of the North to insist, as they do, that 
Mr. Davis was the choice of the politicians and not 
of the whole people of the South. He was absolutely 
the people's choice. The movement of the South in 
1 86 1 was sudden, and it was vast, it is true, but it 
was not the work of politicians ; it was the action of a 
people who had been rudely awakened from their 
dream of security. A great danger presented itself 
to the whole South. A necessity for quick action 
confronted the people. Their liberty and happiness 



250 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

were threatened by the fanatics who had gotten con- 
trol of the Government power, and these people left 
the South but one course, that was separation from 
the union of States." 

Gen. Robert E. Lee said of President Davis to a 
lady asking him a question : "You can always say 
there are few who could have done better than Mr. 
Davis. I know none who could have done as well." — 
( "Life and Letters of General Lee," by R. E. Lee, Jr. ) 

JEFFERSON DAVIS'S OPINION OF LEE 

"After the close of the war, while I was in prison 
and Lee was on parole, we were both indicted on a 
charge of treason ; but, in hot haste to get in their 
work, the indictment was drawn with the fatal omis- 
sion of an overt act. General Grant interposed in 
the case of General Lee, on the ground that he had 
taken his parole and that he was, therefore, not sub- 
ject to arrest. Another grand jury was summoned, 
and a bill was presented against me alone, and 
amended by inserting specifications of overt acts. 
General Lee was summoned as a witness before that 
grand jury, the object being to prove by him that I 
was responsible for certain things done by him dur- 
ing the war. I was in Richmond, having been re- 
leased by virtue of the writ of habeas corpus. Gen- 
eral Lee met me very soon after having given his 
testimony before the grand jury, and told me that to 
the inquiry whether he had not, in the specified cases, 
acted under my orders, he said that he had always 
consulted me when he had the opportunity, both on 
the field and elsewhere; that after discussion, if not 
before, we had always agreed, and therefore he had 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 251 

done with my consent and approval only what he 
might have done if he had not consulted me, and that 
he accepted the full responsibility for his acts. He 
said he had endeavored to present the matter as dis- 
tinctly as he could, and looked up to see what effect 
he was producing upon the grand jury. Immediately 
before him sat a big black negro, whose head had 
fallen back on the rail of the bench he sat on; his 
mouth was wide open, and he was fast asleep. Gen- 
eral Lee pleasantly added that, if he had had any 
vanity as an orator, it would have received a rude 
check. 

"The evident purpose was to offer to Lee a chance 
to escape by transferring to me the responsibility for 
overt acts. Not only to repel the suggestion, but 
unequivocally to avow his individual responsibility, 
with all that, under existing circumstances, was im- 
plied in this, was the highest reach of moral courage 
and gentlemanly pride. Those circumstances were 
exceptionally perilous to him. He had been indicted 
for treason; the United States President had vin- 
dictively threatened to make treason odious; the 
dregs of society had been thrown to the surface; 
judicial seats were held by political adventurers; the 
United States judge of the Virginia district had 
answered to a committee of Congress that he could 
pack a jury so as to convict Davis or Lee — and it was 
under such surroundings that he met the grand jury 
and testified as stated above. Arbitrary power might 
pervert justice and trample on right, but could not 
turn the knightly Lee from the path of honor and 
truth. 

"Descended from a long line of illustrious warriors 
and statesmen, Robert Edward Lee added new glory 



252 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

to the name he bore, and, whether measured by a 
martial or an intellectual standard, will compare 
favorably with those whose reputation it devolved 
upon him to sustain and emulate. 

"Jefferson Davis." 



Appendix III. 

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS's TRIBUTE TO LEE 

"Confederate Veterans of New York : 

"At this banquet, your annual commemoration of 
Robert E. Lee, I am asked to respond to a sentiment 
in his honor, and, without reservation, I do so ; for, 
as a Massachusetts man, I see in him exemplified 
those lofty elements of personal character which, 
typifying- Virginia at her highest, made Washing- 
ton possible. The possession of such qualities by 
an opponent cannot but cause a thrill of satisfaction 
from the sense that we also, as foes no less than as 
countrymen, were worthy of him, and of those 
whom he typified. It was a great company, that 
old, original thirteen ; and in the front rank of that 
company Virginia, Massachusetts, and South Caro- 
lina stood conspicuous. So I recognize a peculiar 
fellowship between them — the fellowship of those 
who have both contended shoulder to shoulder, and 
fought face to face. 

"This, however, is of the past. Its issues are set- 
tled, never to be raised again. But, no matter how 
much we may discuss the rights and the wrongs of 
a day that is dead, — its victories and defeats, — one 
thing is clear beyond dispute — victor and van- 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 253 

quished, Confederate and Unionist, the descendants 
of those who, between 1861 and 1865, wore the gray 
and of those who wore the blue, enter as essential 
and as equal factors into the national life which now 
is, and in future is to be. Not more so Puritan and 
Cavalier in England, the offspring of Cromwell and 
the children's children of Strafford. With us, as 
with them, the individual exponents of either side 
became in time common property, and equally the 
glory of all. 

"So I am here this evening, as I have said, a Mas- 
sachusetts man as well as a member of the Loyal 
Legion, to do honor to the memory of him who was 
chief among those once set in array against us. Of 
him, what shall I say? Essentially a soldier, as a 
soldier Robert E. Lee was a many-sided man. I 
might speak of him as a strategist; but of this as- 
pect of the man, enough has perhaps been said. I 
might refer to the respect, the confidence and love 
with which he inspired those under his command. 
I might dilate on his restraint in victory; his re- 
source and patient endurance in the face of adverse 
fortune; the serene dignity with which he, in the 
end, triumphed over defeat. But, passing over all 
these well-worn themes, I shall confine myself to 
that one attribute of his which, recognized in a sol- 
dier by an opponent, I cannot but regard as his sur- 
est and loftiest title to enduring fame. I refer to 
his humanity in arms, and his scrupulous regard 
for the most advanced rules of civilized warfare. 
* * * As an American, as an ex-soldier of the 
Union, as one who did his best in honest, even fight 
to destroy that fragment of the army of the Confed- 
eracy to which he found himself opposed, I rejoice 



254 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

that no hatred attaches to the name of Lee. Reck- 
less of Hfe to attain the legitimate ends of war, he 
sought to mitigate its horrors. Opposed to him at 
Gettysburg, I here, forty years later, do him justice. 
No more creditable order ever issued from a com- 
manding general than that formulated and signed 
at Chambersburg by Robert E. Lee as, toward the 
close of June, 1863, he advanced on a war of inva- 
sion. *No greater disgrace,' he then declared, 'can 
befall the army and through it our whole people, 
than the perpetration of barbarous outrages upon 
the innocent and defenseless. Such proceedings not 
only disgrace the perpetrators and all connected 
with them, but are subversive of the discipline and 
efficiency of the army, and destructive of the ends 
of our movement. It must be remembered that we 
make war only on armed men.' Lee did not, like 
Tilly and Melac, ex:hort his followers to kill and 
burn, and burn and kill; and again kill and burn 
— to make war hell. He did not proclaim that 
he wanted no prisoners. He did not enjoin it upon 
his soldiers as a duty to cause the people of Penn- 
sylvania to remember they had been there. I thank 
Heaven he did not. He at least, though a Confed- 
erate in arms, was still an American, and not a Tilly 
nor a Melac. 

"And here, as a soldier of the Army of the Poto- 
mac, let me bear my testimony to such of the Army 
of Northern Virginia as may now be present. While 
war at best is bad, yet its necessary and unavoid- 
able badness was not in that campaign enhanced. 
In scope and spirit Lee's order was observed, and I 
.doubt if a hostile force ever advanced into an 
enemy's country, or fell back from it in retreat, 



Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 255 

leaving behind less cause of hate and bitterness than 
did the Army of Northern Virginia in that mem- 
orable campaign which culminated at Gettysburg. 
Because he was a soldier, Lee did not feel it incum- 
bent upon him to proclaim himself a brute, or to ex- 
hort his followers to brutality. 

*'I have paid my tribute. One word more and I 
have done. Some six months ago, in a certain aca- 
demic address at Chicago, I called to mind the fact 
that a statue of Oliver Cromwell now stood in the 
yard of Parliament House in London, close to that 
historic hall of Westminster from the roof of which 
his severed head had once looked down. * * * 
I asked why should it not also in time be so with 
Lee? Why should not his effigy, erect on his 
charger, and wearing the insignia of his Confederate 
rank, gaze from his pedestal across the Potomac at 
the Virginia shore, and his once dearly loved home 
at Arlington? He, too, is one of the precious pos- 
sessions of what is an essential factor in the nation 
that now is, and is to be. 

"My suggestion was met with an answer to which 
I would now make reply. * * * The thing was 
pronounced impossible. 

"Now let me here explain myself. I never sup- 
posed that Robert E. Lee's statue in Washington 
would be provided for by an appropriation from 
the national treasury. I did not wish it. I do not 
think it fitting. Indeed, I do not rate high statues 
erected by act of Congress and paid for by public 
money. They have small significance. Least of all 
would I suggest such a one in the case of Lee. Nor 
was it so with Cromwell. His effigy is a private 
gift, placed where it is by Parliament. So, when 



256 Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy 

the time is ripe, should it be with Lee — and the time 
will come. When it does come, the effigy, assigned 
to its place merely by an act of the Congress of a re- 
united people, should bear some such inscription as 
this : — 

"ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

erected by the contributions 

of those who, 

wearing the Blue, or wearing the Gray, 

recognize Brilliant Military Achievements, 

and honor Lofty Character 

evinced by 

Humanity in War 

and by 

Devotion and Dignity in Defeat." 



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